Flickering Lights and Fractures
by GreenLily474
Summary: The Party member from Hawkins visit Will and Eleven in Pawnee for Christmas break in 1986. They want to repair their friendship, but the Upside Down and the people who want to re-open the gate get in the way.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Surprises

"Guys, Steve's going to give me a ride to Pawnee tomorrow. I've got some stuff to finish up with my research project.," said Dustin to Mike and Lucas as they left Kaminski's final.

"So we'll be safe from your potent farts in Nancy's car," Lucas snickered.

"Classic he who smelt it, delt it," said Dustin. "You fart way more than I do."

"He's right, you know," said Max as she walked up behind Lucas, wrapped her arms around him and put her chin on his shoulder.

"Hey, you're supposed to by on my side," Lucas protested.

"I'm on the side of the truth!" said Max with a grin.

"Hey, Mike," said Jennifer Hayes, a girl who had cried at Will's funeral. She was with her friend Julie Mason, a girl Will had danced with a the Snow Ball two years earlier.

"Hey, Jennifer. What's up?" asked Mike.

"You're visiting Will Byers over the break, right?"

"Yep," said Mike.

"Tell him we said 'hi,' okay?"

"Sure, no problem," said Mike. The girls walked away and Mike muttered "If he decides to actually grace us with his presence."

"Is this about Thanksgiving again?" asked Dustin.

"We were all going to see Star Trek IV, and he just bailed at the last minute because he suddenly had plans with his new and _cooler _friends!" said Mike.

"Maybe coming back to Hawkins brings up a lot of bad memories for him," said Lucas.

"Yeah, people did kind of write him off as a freak here... with the exception of a few girls who seemed to dig that chronically shy routine of his," said Dustin as he indicated Jennifer and Julie who were walking out the doors. "Do you really blame him for not wanting to come back here very often?"

"El had a lot of bad things happen and she still comes back as much as she can," said Mike.

"Yeah, and every time they both come back, you always spend all your time with El," said Dustin.

"So you're saying he's jealous?" asked Mike.

"Not at all," said Dustin. "You pouting about Will hanging with his new friends is jealousy. Will's feeling a little left out and maybe even a bit annoyed. I know because I felt the same way."

"Are you saying it's El's fault?" asked Mike.

"No, Dingus!" said Dustin as he used Robin's favorite insult. "I'm saying that you can't find the balance between your best friend and your girlfriend. And you're mad at Will because he doesn't want to sit and patiently wait his turn to hang out with you. Will doesn't blame El either, by the way. He never did. Unlike you two, he was never a dick to El or Max."

"You're right," said Mike. "It's just..."

"You miss him," said Dustin. "We all do."

"Yeah," said Mike. He remembered the day the Byers family had moved away. Mike had turned to look at the house he had spent so much time in as a kid that he would never enter again. He started wishing that he'd said more to Will before he left. "Do you think you'll get there in time to help us set up that model of Minas Tirith. You could distract him while we set it up."

"I'll try," said Dustin. "Maybe Will would like it better if we all build it together, like the stuff we used to do."

"That would ruin the surprise!" said Lucas.

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"I'm telling you, Will," said Josie as they walked out of their art final. "Graffiti will be considered the great art of our time 100 years from now."

"I think you could be right," said Will. "Mrs. Pillner obviously disagrees, though."

"Mrs. Pillner is part of the fascist conformist society that tried to dictate what everyone's supposed to be. You know, the one that conditioned you to believe that girls couldn't play video games, go to science camp, play D&D or like Lord of the Rings, X-Men, and Star Wars."

"I can admit when I'm wrong," said Will.

"That's why you were able to break free of that conditioning," said Josie.

Will noticed a group of kids he considered to be assholes following El and taunting her. He quickened his pace to confront them. Some of the kids in school made fun of her because she sometime struggled to speak.

"Hey, leave her alone!" said Will.

"Aw, Byers, coming to the rescue of your retarded sister again?" asked Rick Vernon.

"She does better than you in every class, Vernon," said Will. "She actually passes. You have no right to call El or anyone else a retard."

Rick glared at Will before jerking his head at his friends and walking away. El muttered a quick 'thanks' to Will before running into the girls bathroom.

"I'll talk to her," said Josie.

"Thanks," said Will as he began to get his things from his locker. Will had gotten past the point of being bothered by the cruel remarks of other people when he left Hawkins. It helped that he was in a new town where people didn't know his story and weren't staring at him wherever he went. He was trying to help El reach that point as well, but it was something she would have to decide for herself.

Josie entered the bathroom and saw El sitting on the floor. She took a seat next to her.

"Hey, don't listen to Rick, he's an asshole."

"I-I'm not smart like Will or you. You're in all the smart classes and you can draw."

"You may not be smart in the same way that we are, but you're still smart," said Josie. "Will thinks you're really smart."

"He's just saying that because he's nice," said El.

"He's nice, but he's not a liar," said Josie. "He said you're really good at figuring things out. High School doesn't exactly recognize being smart like that. High School sucks because too many guys like Rick have too much power. College will be way better, you'll see. You can be yourself more because people like Rick have way less power there."

"Be myself," said El. "That's what Max always said."

"She sounds awesome," said Josie. "I can't wait to meet her."

"You'll like her and she'll like you."

"Great," said Josie. "Now let's get out of here. Christmas break is starting."

The girls grabbed their stuff from their lockers and met Will at the entrance. He was shaking his head as a couple guys from the track team were trying to talk him into joining. Will had surprised a lot of people by doing well in his gym classes. No one in Pawnee knew how he'd once managed to outrun a demogorgan. No one in the new town even knew what a demogorgan was.

"Sorry, Will," said El as they stood there waiting for Jonathan, who had just returned from college for his own break, to pick them up.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry for," said Will as he squeezed her shoulder.

"I let them get to me again."

"You felt the way you felt, El. I'm not going to try to tell you how to feel, but I will say that guys like Rick suck and they aren't worth your time."

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"If you cooperate, Chief Hopper, the Byers family gets to live," said Dr. Brenner.

"What good is your word?" asked Hopper with a laugh. "You've sold out your entire country. Hell, you've sold out this entire dimension."

"A small mind like yours couldn't possibly understand my work," said Brenner.

"The girl losing her powers is... disappointing... but the boy, the boy could still be of use."

"Leave him alone! Leave both of them alone!" said Hopper as he struggled against his restraints before Brenner nodded to a Russian guard who gave Hopper an injection that knocked him unconscious.

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"El, what are you doing?" asked Will as he walked past her room and saw her concentrating on the clean clothes in her laundry basket.

"Nothing, I just thought if might be cool if I could show everyone I had my powers back when they visit."

"El, your powers were never what made you special," said Will as he walked into her room and sat at her desk.

"Then what makes me special, Will? Because I haven't felt special since I lost them. I've just been helpless and useless like...like.."

"Like me?" asked Will.

"No, no, you're not helpless or useless, Will. That's not what I meant," said El.

"I have felt pretty helpless and useless sometimes, El, and you're the one that showed me I was wrong. You didn't use your powers to get me out of that rut either. There's also the fact that you were tortured and manipulated by a psychotic mad scientist for the first twelve years of your life and still ended up being a good person who wanted to save people. That makes you pretty extraordinary in my book."

"Thanks, Will," said El.

"You have saved my life more than once," said Will. "The least I can do is remind you that you are an awesome person once in a while."

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Mike had asked to see some of Will's most recent drawing while El, Lucas and Max ran out to the station wagon to grab the pieces for the Minas Tirith model to take them to the Rec Room. He noticed that Will was mostly drawing scenes from nature and around town rather than scenes from his own imagination.

"These are really good," said Mike. "I kind of miss the dragons and wizards you used to draw though."

Will shrugged. "Those things just aren't in my head as much as they used to be."

"Oh," said Mike. "Well, El said you've really been there for her since you guys moved her."

"She's been there for me too," said Will. "We got along pretty well once we actually got a chance to know each other."

Mike felt a small sting at Will's words and a bit annoyed. "So you don't think she's some stupid girl that I swap spit with anymore?"

Mike thought he saw Will glare at him for a moment. "I never actually thought that she was stupid, you know. I was just pissed at you and Lucas when I said that. It's too bad Max and El never joined us on the campaigns. That may have been fun."

"You think girls could have played D&D?"

"I do now."

"Maybe we could have a campaign this week," said Mike.

"Do you bring your D&D stuff?"

"No."

"I don't have mine anymore. So we'll have to figure out something else," said Will.

"I'm sure we will," said Mike.

"Hey, Mike," said Lucas as he came into Will's room. "That couples game we were talking about earlier, it's ready for us to start playing."

"Couples game?" asked Will.

"Yeah, we've been planning it for weeks," said Mike. "Sorry, Will, couples only."

Will's expression was unreadable. "Don't worry about it. I'll just do some reading," he said as he picked up a copy of _Different Seasons _ and sat on his bed.

Mike and Lucas headed down the hall to the entrance of the basement where Max and El stood.

"Seriously?" Max hissed. "Couples only?"

"It worked, didn't it?" said Mike as he closed the door to the basement.

"Look, I just know how I felt when you said 'party members only' and I don't want Will to feel that way," said Max.

"He'll understand when we're finished, don't worry," said Lucas.

"I'm just saying, maybe Dustin was right. Will might like this better if he was building it with us. Isn't the whole point of coming here to spend time with him and El?" asked Max.

"Of course it is, but we've been planning this surprise for months," said Mike. "Shit, this looks more complicated than I thought."

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Will sat on his bed reading his book. He had decided over a year earlier that he wasn't going to let the fact that his friends wanted to spend time with their girlfriends bother him anymore.

Will remembered sitting in the passenger side of Jonathan's car and crying the entire trip. He suddenly stopped when they got to their new home. He had felt a weight lifted off his shoulders when he realized that he was free of Hawkins- a town full of people who saw him as a freak and "Zombie Boy." Sure, he missed his friends, but they had all moved on while he recovered from being trapped in the Upside Down and being possessed by the Mind Flayer (for the last part of 1983 to the earliest part of 1985, Will hadn't even been allowed to ride his bike around town with his friends).

Jonathan and Nancy were out and Dustin was coming in later. Will wished that Mike and Lucas had told him about their couples only game before Jonathan and Nancy left to go to a party at the community college campus. He really missed his brother (who had left for college a few months earlier) and wanted to spend time with him.

Will also wanted to spend time with Max and get to know her better. He and El had become close after leaving Hawkins and Will imagined that he and Max could have become close as well.

Will hadn't gone with El and Jonathan the last couple times they'd gone to Hawkins. He didn't like how the people there stared at him all the time. Mike had always been more interested in spending time with El on their visits. Will had come to accept that, but if it was going to be the case, he just preferred not going back to Hawkins at all.

The phone rang and Will picked it up.

_"Hey," _said Josie. _"I just got talked into a shift of gift wrapping for the Boys and Girls club tonight. Can you help? I know your friends from Hawkins are in town, but I don't know anyone else working that shift. Maybe El and the others'll want to help too."_

"I can ask them," said Will. "Hang on." Will placed the phone on his night table and went down the hall to the basement door and knocked. Unfortunately, at that moment, Mike and the others were experiencing some frustration with the model they were building.

"_WHAT?" _Mike shouted from behind the closed door.

"Sorry," said Will. "I was just seeing if you guys wanted to-"

"We're still in the middle of the game," said Lucas.

"Well, it's just-" said Will.

"Will, can you please let us finish the game," said Mike.

"Yeah, no problem," said Will. _"Screw it," _he muttered and went back to his room. He picked up the phone. "It's just going to be me, Josie. I'll walk to your place."

_"Will, are you alright?"_

"I'm fine. I'll see you in a couple minutes." Will scribbled a note for Dustin and taped it to the front door before putting on his jacket and heading over to Josie's house.

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Dustin was dropped off by Steve and Robin, who were on their way to a party in town. He saw a note with his name taped to the front door where Will explained that he had gone to volunteer to wrap Christmas presents and the others were in the basement playing some sort of couples game.

He went to the basement door and knocked.

"We're not done with the game yet, Will," Mike called.

"It's me," said Dustin "And Will isn't here."

Lucas opened the door. Dustin held up the note from Will. "Looks like he got bored or lonely while you guys were playing your couples game and decided to go out."

"What?" said Mike. "Why would he go out while we're visiting?"

"Jesus, Mike, you're oblivious!" said Dustin. "He's doing volunteer work, apparently. How long have you guys been working on this?"

"About four hours," said Lucas.

"Really? You guys just left Will alone all this time and you're surprised he didn't wait?" asked Dustin. He walked over to the table with the model. "I think I can finish this."

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When Will and Josie finished their two hour shift, they decided to go back to his house and see if his Hawkins friends were done with their couples game.

"Byers!" said Dustin happily. He ran to Will and greeted him with a huge hug.

"Good to see you, Dustin," said Will as he returned the hug. "Sorry I wasn't home when you got here."

"You were helping the needy," said Dustin. "It's what people are supposed to do around Christmas."

"Why did you just leave like that?" asked Mike as he came up the stairs followed by Lucas, El, and Max.

"I tried to ask you guys if you wanted to go, but you were still playing whatever game you were playing," said Will.

"We were working on a surprise for you, Will," said Mike. "And you just ditched us!"

"Mike!" said El.

"No, I'm tired of this. You never come to Hawkins anymore and you just run off to hang out with your new friends when we come here!"

"You left me alone for over two hours," said Will.

"It's not just tonight," said Mike. "You've moved on without us."

"I MOVED!" said Will. "Moved to a new town and made new friends. And while we're talking about moving on, I'll point out that you moved on without me before I even left Hawkins, Mike. We're not kids anymore. That's what you told me."

"Of course we're not kids anymore," said Mike. "But we're still supposed to be friends. We're supposed to make an effort. You've stopped making any kind of effort just because you haven't been getting your way!"

"Haven't been getting my way, Mike? Really? Can you think of any time I ever got my way when I lived in Hawkins? Or when I visited or you visited here? One time?"

"What about that time you dragged me and Lucas into that stupid campaign when we'd told you a million times we didn't want to play?"

Will was silent for a few moments. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Will," said Lucas. "Why don't you come see your present."

"No, I'm sorry I forgot my place in the party," said Will. "I'm supposed to just wait around for everyone else and be grateful to be included at all. Isn't that right?"

Mike felt the color drain from his face. He wanted to kick himself for going off on Will. He remembered the day everyone got into the station wagon to investigate the Flayed. Mike had grumbled about having to get into the back of the car and Will had simply said 'Welcome to my world.' Will was right, he had never really gotten his way as far as the party was concerned.

"Will, I'm sorry," said Mike. "I was cranky from trying to put together your present and I was just an asshole. I shouldn't have said that. Let's go see it, alright?"

Will shook his head. "You know what? Whatever it is, I don't want it."

"What? C'mon, Will," said Lucas. "We worked really hard on it, all for you."

"Yeah? Well, you made me feel like shit-like you didn't want me around," said Will.

"That's not true. Of course we want you around, we miss you," said Mike. "We were just trying to surprise you and came up with a really shitty excuse."

"Yeah, well it's pretty much been like this for the past couple of years," said Will. "You make me feel shitty, I get upset, you feel bad and apologize then we start the whole thing over again. It's wearing me out."

Will turned around and headed for the front door.

El ran over to him and grabbed his arm. "Where are you going, Will?"

"I need to get some air," said Will.

Mike remembered the day that Will had ridden off in the rain after he and Lucas had mocked Will's campaign. He remembered the sudden fear that had gripped him as he remember Will leaving his house on November 6, 1983 and not showing up at school the next day. When Mike and Lucas had reached the Byers home to find it empty, Mike had felt another wave of terror as he recalled all times Will had disappeared in 1984 because of episodes.

Mike ran to the front door and stood between Will and it. He held up his hands.

"Will, please don't leave. Let's talk about this," Mike begged.

"I don't want to talk about it right now," said Will. "I want to go for a walk. I waited for two hours while you guys had your couples game. And I've been looking forward to spending time with everyone for weeks- and whatever you were building, maybe I would have liked to help. It would have meant spending time with you, but you guys left me out of things again because you were doing things on your terms. Well, now I'm going to do things on my terms and go for a damn walk."

"You're right, Will," said Mike. "You should be able to do things on your own terms. Just... don't go out alone, please!"

"We're not kids anymore, Mike. And I'm not a baby. I used to think that you were the one person who understood that."

"I'll go with you," said Josie.

"I'll be fine, Josie," said Will.

"You're not really going to leave me alone with your Hawkins friends, are you. They seem cool and all, but I barely know them."

Will rolled his eyes. "Fine, let's go."

Mike slumped into a chair at the kitchen table as the door closed behind Will and Josie. He buried his face in his hands. El sat next to him and put her hand on his arm.

"He just needs to cool off, Mike," said El.

"Well, Dustin and Max, you were both right. We should have just had Will build the model with us. Instead we just reinforced why he never wants to visit us in Hawkins anymore," said Mike.

"We have to do something to make this up to him," said Lucas as he took a seat at the table.

"No," said Dustin. "Trying to make things up to Will is just going to push him away again. He's afraid you'll just start doing the things that make him feel left out once he's smiling again."

"How do you know that?" asked Lucas.

"Because he basically just said it, Dingus!" said Dustin. "We should try just hanging out with him."

"Yeah," said Mike. "It shouldn't be that hard unless I screw it up again."

"You won't screw it up, Mike," said El.

Mike silently prayed that she was right. There had been a large hole in his life since Will had moved. Mike had spent a lot of time wishing that he could spend more time with Will, but always seemed to screw it up when he got the chance.

Mike remembered telling Will they'd go crazy together. He had meant it. Will was the one person he could always tell anything. That had always meant the world to Mike. Then El had come into his life and she became that person... And Will eventually decided he didn't need Mike anymore and felt it was stupid to rely on him.

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"I can walk you home," said Will to Josie.

"Then what?" asked Josie. "You walk around the city and freeze to death?"

"I'm not gonna freeze to death," said Will.

"And I'm not gonna let you walk around by yourself..." Josie became quiet and stared blankly ahead for a moment.

"Josie?" She blinked and shook her head then fiddled with her silver locket.

"Sorry, my mind just went blank for a moment. Let's walk over to Ramsett Park. They have some nice lights up right now."

Will considered objecting as he didn't really want to go to a park full of lights, but he was already in a neighborhood full of lights and he decided he wasn't going to spend his life fearing things. "Yeah, let's go."

He followed Josie to a back path and stopped at the edge. "What's wrong?" asked Josie.

"There's almost no light on this path," said Will. "And those weird Zorp followers are out in this area sometimes."

"They're harmless," said Josie. "And this path is a shortcut. Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Alright, fine," said Will. He started to follow her down the path when suddenly a vine shot out, wrapped itself around Will's leg and started pulling him into the forest.

"WILL!" Josie screamed. She reacted quickly grabbed his arms.

"Josie, matches!" Will grunted. He reached over and grabbed the trunk of a small tree. Josie pulled some matches from her pocket, lit it and threw it at the vine. It released Will as he felt a familiar sensation on the back of his neck. "We have to get out of here right now!"

A vine suddenly reached out and grabbed Josie's leg. Will grabbed her arms. He would feel the anger of the Mind Flayer.

Suddenly a group of men arrived and used flame throwers on the vines. They released Josie who quickly hugged Will.

"It's alright," said and eerily calm voice. "We were never going to let those vines get you."

Will looked up to see someone he only recognized from pictures: Dr. Martin Brenner.

"What do you want?" asked Will.

"Just some help," said Brenner.

"Why would we want to help you, creep?" asked Josie.

"The diamonds cut the glass," replied Brenner calmly.

"What?" said Will. He suddenly felt Josie's arms drop from around his neck. She stood up and stared blankly. "Josie? What did you do to her?" Will asked Brenner.

"Just put her to sleep for a little while," said Brenner. Will was suddenly seized by several strong pairs of hands. He was tied up, gagged, blind folded, and thrown into the back of a truck.

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Hopper say in a cell with a think plastic door. It was much cleaner than the one he was held in while in Russia, but he still wasn't free. Across from him the demogorgan than had eaten so many of his fellow prisoners was contained. They had thrown him into the cage a couple times, but it had never touched him.

Brenner and his men arrived with a girl about the same age as El, Will, and Mike who appeared to be in a trance. Then, to his horror, Hopper realized the Will himself was with them.

Hopper ran to the plastic door and started frantically banging. "No! Not the kid!"

Will looked to the noise and his eyes widened with recognition as he saw Hopper. The men untied Will and took off the gag. "HOPPER!" Will shouted.

The men opened the door to the Demogorgan's enclosure and shoved Will inside, closing the door behind him and Hopper continued to desperately pound on the door of his cell.

The demogorgan leaped at Will, but stopped short and started to sniff him. Will backed against the wall of the cell. He wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go and he felt frozen. The demogorgan suddenly slammed Will's head into the wall and he fell to the floor unconscious.

The creature placed a clawed hand on Will's shoulder and the lights in the underground lab began to flicker rapidly as a crack formed in the wall.

"It's happening," said Brenner.

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AN: I'm going to try to make this eight chapters like a season of Stranger things. This is a different - but not completely different continuity of my pre-season 3 fics.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Alice

Mike rapidly tapped his foot on the floor as the group sat around the model they'd assembled for Will in the basement. They'd been debating about disassembling it and reassembling it later with Will. Dustin had suggested asking Will what he wanted.

"Something's wrong. He should be home by now. It's been over two hours," said Mike.

"Do you know Josie's number, El?" asked Max. "Maybe he's at her house."

El nodded. She stood up and walked over to the phone. She dialed Josie's number..

_"Hello?"_

"Mrs. Ambrose, it's El. Are Josie and Will there?"

_"Oh they went to see a movie. They should be back in a couple hours."_

"Okay, thank you." El hung up the phone. The others looked at her with expectation. "She said they went to see a movie."

Dustin and Lucas both breathed sighs of relief. "So he's fine," said Dustin.

"She's lying," said El.

"Why do you think she's lying?" asked Max.

"Will would have told me. He knows I'd worry."

"Maybe he forgot," said Lucas.

"He wouldn't forget. Will and I promised each other, we'd always let each other know where we go and he always keeps his promises."

Eleven thought back to the day that she and Will actually became close friends- accepted that they were siblings and not just two members of the same friend group. He was leaving the house in Hawkins carrying some empty trash bags. Eleven had asked what he was doing and he had said that he was cleaning of the litter from Castle Byers. She had begged him to let her go with him as she needed something to occupy her mind.

Will had relented, but asked her not to talk to anyone else about the clean up. El had been shocked to find it in ruins and initially thought that a storm must have done it. Then she found the pieces of the drawing of Will the Wise and the pieces of a picture of the four original party members. Will had admitted to destroying Castle Byers himself and feeling stupid for clinging to certain things for so long.

When El asked him why he had destroyed the fort, he simply replied: "_I doesn't matter."_ Then barely audibly muttered "_I don't matter."_

Will hadn't intended for her to hear the last part, but she did hear it. Those words made her realize something about her adoptive brother. His pain from being trapped in the Upside Down, then being possessed had never stopped. He had been hiding it from everyone. D&D had been his escape, but his friends had never wanted to play anymore. Everyone, including Will, had been worried about El after the loss of her powers and the death of Hopper. No one had noticed that Will was still suffering and he hadn't wanted them to notice because he felt that his mother and El were suffering more and didn't feel like anyone would really care. El felt she should have known. She'd seen him in the Upside Down, then seen him controlled by the Mind Flayer.

El had gotten Will to open up, but he had made her promise to not tell the others. She had kept that promise, but had often wondered if she should have broken it and told Mike. Would things have been different? It hadn't gone unnoticed by El that Will seemed to shut down when they visited Hawkins. He had really looked forward to seeing Mike the first couple of times they visited Hawkins or Mike came to Pawnee, but the excitement of seeing his first ever friend seemed to shrink over time.

"Why would Josie's mom lie though?" asked Mike.

"I don't know," said El. "But I'm sure she was lying. We have to find Will."

The group headed upstairs. Joyce was sitting on the sofa messaging her feet after working a double shift. Being a manager at a clothing store paid better than being a cashier at a convenience store, but the hours were grueling close to Christmas.

"Hey there," said Joyce to the group. "Glad you all got here okay."

"Mom!" said El, who had quickly and easily started calling Joyce 'Mom" after joining the Byers family.

"What is it, Sweetheart?" asked Joyce as she took El's hands. She glanced at the group. "Where's Will?"

"He went for a walk with Josie," said El. "Her mom said they went to see a movie, but she's lying, I know she is."

El's eyes suddenly widened. She felt the back of her head, then passed out. Her nose was bleeding slightly.

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Hopper desperately banged on the door of his cell. "You've made your point, Brenner! I'll do what you want, just get the kid out of there!"

"The creature isn't going to kill the boy, don't worry, chief," said Brenner.

The rapidly blinking lights caused Josie to snap out of her trance. She glanced around the room with her eyes landing on the demogorgan standing over an unconscious Will. She saw Hopper desperately banging on the cell door. She didn't know how she could do it, only that she could do it.

Josie raised her arms and screamed. Brenner and his men levitated and slammed into the walls. Josie walked past Hopper's cell and unlocked it with a wave of her arm then did the same the to demogorgan's enclosure. With another wave, she slammed the demogorgan into the wall knocking it unconscious. the gate sealed shut.

Hopper ran to Will. He was still breathing. "Are you one of Brenner's experiments?" he asked Josie.

"Brenner?" asked Josie.

"That's white haired asshole over there. How'd you do that?"

"I-I don't know," said Josie as she fiddled with her locket. "I didn't even know until now I could do that. This place feels familiar."

"We need to get out of here," said Hopper. He picked up Will, who had gotten taller in the last couple of years, but was still far from a large person.

"Do you know how to get out of here?" asked Josie.

"I know someone who does," said Hopper.

Josie followed him down a hallway. There was a woman who looked slightly younger than Hopper in a cell. She stood up and walked to the door. Hopper gave Josie a nod. Josie unlocked the door and wiped blood from her nose.

"Hopper-how?" asked the woman. She looked at Josie and her eyes flickered with recognition.

"You alright, Alice?" asked Hopper. Alice nodded.

"This girl here knocked out Brenner and his men. We have a small window to get out of here. Do you think you can find Sarah and get us all out?" asked Hopper.

"Yes," said Alice. She walked over to an outlet and punched it. She seemed to be having a seizure for a moment, then gestured for the others to follow. She led them to another cell and opened it. Josie saw a girl about her age who seemed very familiar.

"Sarah, c'mon, honey, we're getting out of here," said Hopper as he walked over to her. He gently set Will down. Sarah shook her head frantically.

"I can't, Dad, I can't. There's too much stuff out there."

"I know, but I can help you get through it. We have to get out of here so that bastard can't use us anymore."

Josie walked over to Sarah and held out her hand. "C'mon, we have to hurry. Your dad's right. I don't know who that guy is, but I don't want to help him with whatever he wants."

Sarah looked up at Josie and took her hand and stood up as Hopper picked up Will. Sarah suddenly gasped an leaned against the wall.

"You disobeyed him and escaped," said Sarah. "He punished you, tortured you, he changed your memories."

"Changed my memories?" asked Josie.

We have to move now," said Alice. "I can explain everything when we're somewhere safe. She led them into what felt like a maze of air ducts. After about 20 minutes, Will groaned.

"Hang on a second," said Hopper to the others. He set Will down, but supported his head. Will opened his eyes.

"Hopper?"

"Hey, buddy," said Hopper with a smile. "Good to see you."

Will sat up and hugged Hopper. "We thought you were dead! Have you been a prisoner this whole time?"

"Yeah, it was the Russians working with Brenner than found me after I got knocked out."

"What do they want with you?" asked Josie. "You were saying you'd do what they asked if they let Will go."

Hopper cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably.

"They wanted him to father children... more test subjects," said Alice as she ran her hand over a shaved head.

"What?" said Will. "Why?"

"They think I'll have more kids like Sarah," said Hopper as he gestured to his daughter.

"Sarah?" said Will as he looked past Hopper to Sarah. "Did they fake her death too?"

"Yeah, they like to do that," said Hopper.

"Brenner was running a lot of tests on people whether they knew it or now during the Vietnam War. Hopper here, didn't know and doesn't remember. I volunteered with three other people and we had no idea. He made me his prisoner. He must have messed with your memory somehow," said Alice as she pointed at Josie.

"He said something that put her in a trance," said Will.

"Sleeper agent," said Alice. "He must have put her there to spy on you." Alice pointed at Will.

"But Will's my friend," said Josie. "I'm not spying on him."

"Not by choice," said Alice. "Brenner uses a lot of people. You were one of the children he tested on and he erased your memories of that."

"Okay, I'm starting to freak out here," said Josie. She fiddled with her locket and her eyes briefly unfocused.

"Josie, your locket," said Will. "Take it off!"

"What?" said Josie.

"That's how he's controlling you," said Will.

Josie considered Will carefully, then yanked her locket off her neck, stood up, dropped it on the floor, and stomped on it. It let out some sort of high pitched noise. Will stood up and grabbed his head to steady himself.

"Whoa, easy there," said Hopper as he stood up and took Will's arm.

"We have to get out of here," said Will. "They may have been tracking us with that locket."

"You guys go, I'll hold them off," said Josie.

"What?" said Will.

"If that psycho has been using me to spy on you, I'm a danger to you."

Hopper let go of Will's arm and stepped back next to Josie. "Alice, get Will and Sarah to safety."

"What? Hopper, no!" said Will. "We've all thought you were dead for over a year. My mom, El, they need you."

"I can't be sure that Brenner hasn't been messin' with my head, kid," said Hopper. "I'm not going to risk putting you in danger."

"Well, I'm not leaving either of you behind. For all we know *I* could be some sort of sleeper agent. It's happened before. So you're both coming with me or I'll stay right here. We can even wait to contact my family until we're sure Brenner isn't using mind control on any of us if you want," said Will.

"Hopper, it's safe," said Alice. "Let's get out of here so he can't use us anymore."

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"No one's seen him at the monoplex," said Jonathan as he got home with Nancy, Steve, and Robin.

"Josie's mother still swears they went there," said Nancy.

El stirred at that moment. "El," said Mike as he gently tapped her shoulder.

"Will," she whispered. Mike felt a small twinge of jealousy for a brief moment- toward both Will and El. They had each other away from Hawkins while Mike himself was stuck in Hawkins without Will's friendship or romance with El.

"Did you see him?" asked Mike. Joyce walked up behind him.

"Are you okay, Sweetheart?"

"Will, he hit his head. Something knocked him out," said El.

"Something?" asked Max.

El looked around at everyone. "D-demogorgan."

"What? Are you sure?" asked Lucas. El got up and walked over to the radio. She turned it on and changed the station to static.

"El, what are you doing?" asked Mike. "Your powers."

"I saw Will," she replied. "I feel my powers. I have to try. She grabbed a scarf and tied it around her head. She focused as hard as she could and nothing happened. Then suddenly, she felt a bubble form and burst inside of her nose.

She was in the void. She saw Will telling people he wasn't going to leave them behind.

"El?" said Mike. "Do you see him?" El held up her hand.

Josie was with Will. A woman with a shaved head named Alice was with him. Someone else was with him... but it couldn't be. Hopper-Dad?

_"You look like your mother," said Alice to Josie. "Your father too... I can see him in you too."_

_"You know my parents?" asked Josie. "The Ambroses?"_

_"Ambrose? No, that's the fake memory Brenner put in your mind. He sent your father to the war and to his death so he could steal you from your mother."_

"Papa," said El. She pulled off her scarf as she started gasping for breath.

"Papa?" asked Joyce. "Brenner? Does he have Will."

"Will was escaping with Josie and three other people," said El. "They talked about Papa. A woman told Josie that Papa changed her memories... that the Ambrose's aren't her parents."

"That's why Mrs. Ambrose lied about them going to the movies," said Dustin. "She has to be in on whatever this is."

Joyce grabbed her coat and headed to the door.

"Mom, where are you going?" asked Jonathan.

"I'm going to have a talk with that bitch and find out where your brother is," said Joyce.

"You can't go by yourself, if the Ambrose's are working with Brenner they're dangerous. We should contact Owens before we go."

"We should probably take some supplies with us. Where's your gun?" asked Nancy.

"Okay, this got insane real fast," said Steve.

"We should all go," said Lucas.

"No," said Joyce. "Anyone under 18 is staying here."

"We can help," said Mike.

"Mike, just stay here," said Nancy as Joyce dialed Dr. Owen's number on the phone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I can hot wire this," said Alice as she examined the car the group found a couple miles outside of the underground facility they'd escaped. "Looks that this broke down and the owner must have gone for help."

Will leaned against the car to catch his breath. "We'd better keep you moving, kid," said Hopper. "You probably have a concussion."

Will had a strong urge to just crawl into the back seat of the car and go to sleep, but he knew Hopper was right. Hopper took his arm to help him walk. Sarah took his other arm and walked with them for a few minutes before suddenly backing away. She stared at him, her eyes were wide with fear.

"Are you okay?" asked Will.

"You.. you were trapped in that place.. for days... And he... he tried to make you part of his army... the giant spider," said Sarah.

"You saw that?" asked Will. Sarah nodded.

"It's okay, Sarah, I got this," said Hopper. "Go ahead and rest inside the car. We'll be somewhere safe soon." Sarah complied as Josie walked over to Alice.

"There's something I need to tell you, Will," said Hopper as he and Will began to circle the car. "You and El and your Mom and brother."

"What is it?" asked Will. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing more than the usual," said Hopper. "I just found some stuff out while I was held prisoner and I need you to remind me to tell everyone when we're all together."

"Got it," said Alice as the engine fired up. "Let's get going."

Hopper led Will to the car and helped him into the back seat with Josie and Sarah. "Keep him awake," he said to the girls. "Let's drive a while and find a pay phone," Hopper added to Alice.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey Maggie," said Joyce as Mrs. Ambrose opened the door. "Will and Josie haven't been to the monoplex." Joyce grabbed her shirt collar and shoved her against the wall. "So I'm going to give you one more chance to tell the truth, where is my son?"

"Hey, Joyce, take it easy," said Mrs. Ambrose. "If your son's missing, then so is my daughter."

"But Josie isn't your daughter, is she?" said Joyce. Mrs. Ambrose started to laugh.

"Of course that little shit isn't my daughter, she doesn't even look like me."

"You should back away from her right now, Mrs. Byers," said Kevin- the boy everyone thought was Josie's older brother. He was pointing a gun at Joyce and the man everyone thought was Josie's father stood next to him also pointing a gun at Joyce.

"You two should watch where you're pointing those things," said Steve as he and Jonathan stepped into the house pointing guns at the two supposed Ambrose men.

"Wow, you Hawkins people are tenacious, I'll give you that," said Mr. Ambrose. "Tenacious and stupid." He shot both Steve and Jonathan in their legs. Nancy and Robin suddenly charged both men, knocking them to the ground, grabbing their guns and pointing the weapons at their heads.

"Did we just do that?" asked Robin. "Because I think I peed a little."

"EVERYONE FREEZE!" a small group of soldiers entered the house. Joyce was paralyzed with fear until she looked up and saw Dr. Owens.

"I see you didn't wait like we asked," said Dr. Owens.

"My boy is in danger and you were taking too long," said Joyce.

"Sorry we took so long, but we were distracted because we found Will," said Dr. Owens.

"Is he alright?" asked Joyce.

"He has a concussion, but he'll be fine," said Dr. Owens as soldiers arrested the Ambroses and medics attended to Jonathan and Steve. Dr, Owens walked up to Joyce and lowered his voice. "Will and his friend Josie weren't alone, three other people escaped Brenner with them... Joyce, one of them was Jim Hopper. He's alive."

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Okay, this is chapter 2. This story has nothing to do with How Do We Fix This? I may do a couple more chapters on that one too, not sure. I still have to finish "Breaking Through the Portal" and "Beyond the Ripple" the continuations of the MKUltra Ripple stories- which are now AU.


	3. Chapter 3 You Won't Care When I'm Happy

Chapter 3 You Won't Care When I'm Happy Again

"Sorry, Buddy, we gotta keep you awake," said Hopper as he nudged Will who was starting the drift off. "C'mon, let's get you on your feet."

Will gave a small grunt and stood up before Hopper could help him. Hopper nonetheless, took Will's arm and started walking him back and forth in the small room they occupied with Sarah, Alice, and Josie.

"I'm feeling really cranky right now, everyone," said Will. "Sorry if I lose my temper. I just really want to sleep."

"Don't worry about it, kid," said Hopper. "You're in for a long 24 hours, but I'm going to make sure you get through it. Especially since your Mom's on the way. I wouldn't want to get on her bad side."

"You can't get on her bad side, Hopper," said Will. "She'll be happy to see you."

"Not if I let you fall asleep while you've got that concussion. You've never been on her bad side and you'll never be there, Will. Anyone who messes with you is going to know what a formidable force your mother really is before they know what hit them."

Will smiled a little. Growing up, he had always felt like the odd one out of the party because his mother couldn't afford all the nice things that Mike, Lucas, and Dustin's parents got for them; but he always felt like he had the best mother of the group.

As Will and Hopper passed Sarah, she recoiled a little.

"Sorry," said Sara. "It isn't you. I just- I can't control my visions yet and that stuff that happened to you-"

"Don't worry about it," said Will. "I understand. It's not your fault." Sarah certainly wasn't the same as the people in Hawkins who stared at him when he walked down the halls at school.

"So who is my mother," Josie asked Alice.

"Someone who worked with me to try and stop Brenner once we found out what he was really up to," said Alice.

"Where is she now? Is she still alive? does she know about me?"

"She knows about you," said Alice. Will thought he saw Hopper looking a little anxious from the corner of his eye.

"Has she tried to find me?"

"Oh, she found you," said Alice. "Brenner just fried her brain before she could get out of the lab."

Hopper stopped. "Wait, is Josie here the real Jane Ives?" he asked Alice. She nodded.

"What?" said Will. "El isn't Jane?"

"No," said Hopper. "Brenner told me- more like he taunted me. That's what I wanted to talk to you and your fam-"

The door in the room burst open and Will's family and Hawkins friends poured in. They all stared in awe at Hopper. He met Joyce's eyes. She looked torn between running to him and running to her youngest child.

She didn't know yet, but Hopper knew he'd have to tell her-tell them all- soon. El made Joyce's decision for her when when broke from the group and ran to Hopper. The girl was crying tears of shock and joy. Will stepped out of Hopper's grip to allow him to fully embrace El. As he did, he was quickly engulfed in a hug by his mother and brother.

"Are you alright, Baby?" asked Joyce. "Dr. Owens said you have a concussion. How do you feel?"

"I'm just tired and my head's sore, Mom," said Will. "But that doesn't matter right now. Brenner... He's working with the Russians, they have a demogorgan and they're trying open a new gate."

"We know," said Joyce. "But try not to worry about that right now. You need to heal."

"Mom, I felt it.. I felt him trying to come out and wanting to kill everyone... or at least control us."

"C-control us?" asked El. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," said Will. "But we have to do something."

"We're working on that, Will," said Dr. Owens. "Right now, you have to work on staying awake for the next 20 hours then getting some rest."

"We can't wait for me to get rest," said Will. "We have to do something now!"

"Will," said Joyce as she gently, but firmly held his face. "We're all going to do something, I promise, but please focus on healing that concussion. _Please_!"

"I can have some doctors stay with him to make sure he doesn't fall asleep," said Dr. Owens.

"Thanks," said Joyce. "But I can handle it."

"We can all handle it," said Dustin.

"You should probably do it in two hour shifts," said Dr. Owens. "You'll need to be well rested and fully alert."

Dr. Owens warned everyone that Will would probably get irritable was he was very tired and fresh off of yet another traumatic experience. Joyce and Jonathan took the first shift while everyone else rested. Hopper sat with Sarah as she finally fell asleep. Alice and Josie (the real Jane Ives) rested in another room. Hopper made up his mind to wait until after Will got some sleep before telling the Byers family the full truth.

After her two hour shift with Will, Joyce entered Hopper's room.

"Can't sleep?" asked Hopper.

"Obviously you can't either," said Joyce with a small smile. There was an awkward silence before Joyce crossed the room and embraced Hopper. He returned her embrace full force.

"I thought I'd killed you!" Joyce sobbed.

"It wasn't you," said Hopper. "It was those bastards who stole all those kids and opened the damn gate. They caused everything that's happened to us and our kids."

Joyce glanced at Sarah asleep in the bed. Brenner had faked her death just as he had faked Will's. He must have intended to get Will from the Upside Down and keep him as a guinea pig as well. Joyce remembered Will contacting her while he was trapped there. The Mind Flayer had used him and now the demogorgan had somehow been able to re-open the gate by touching Will.

"What are you and Sarah going to do now?"

"I don't know," said Hopper. "I just want to keep her safe."

"Do you want to go back to Hawkins?"

"Not especially."

Joyce pulled back from Hopper and looked him in the eyes. "Then stay with me...stay with my family. El's already there anyway." Joyce thought she saw something odd flash in Hopper's eyes- like he had something important to tell her. "We can only trust each other to protect our kids and we'll be stronger together.

Hopper smiled. "That's true. We never did get that date... What do you say? Enzo's at 7?"

"I think we should try a different place," said Joyce with a small laugh. "We haven't had much luck there."

"Deal," said Hopper.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Eleven briefly peaked inside Sarah's room to see Joyce and Hopper in a private conversation after she and Max sat with Will. She decided to let them talk longer in the hopes that they would stay together and she'd have both of them with her.

She made up her mind to find a room to see if more of her powers had returned. She hadn't wanted to leave Will because he seemed upset while trying to hide it, but Dr. Owens had insisted on shifts.

El peaked into the room where Alice was talking to Josie-or the real Jane Ives as it turned out. Will had told her. El decided to let them talk alone.

_"I need to tell you something, El," said Will._

___"Do you want me to leave?" asked Max._

___"It's up to El," said Will._

___"Max can stay," said El. "What is it, Will?"_

___Will took a deep breath. "You aren't really Jane Ives, Josie is."_

___"What?" Max exclaimed. "Are you sure?"_

___"Yeah, apparently Brenner has taunted Hopper with that information and Alice confirmed it. She tried to take down the lab with Terry Ives."_

___"If Josie is the real Jane, then who am I?" asked El._

___"I don't know," said Will. "But I think Hopper might. He said he wanted to tell us all something."_

__Eleven was tempted to go into the room where Hopper was talking to Joyce and ask him, but she felt scare. She found an empty room with a radio and tied a bandana around her head. She couldn't decide who she wanted to find.

Max entered the room. "Maybe you should rest before you try to use your powers again. Oh crap, I'm starting to agree with Mike."

El smiled a little and pulled the cloth off of her eyes. "You're probably right, I feel frazzled right now."

"Yeah, well, a lot has happened," said Max.

"I'm not who I thought I was," said El.

"You're still the same person, El," said Max. "You just have a different birth mom than you've always though you've had. You still have the same family. And now the man who became your father is alive."

"And he loves the woman who became my mom," said El.

"See?" said Max. "You family is coming together."

"Yeah, coming together," said El. "I have to help them, I have to help Will. He's been trying to help me, but he needs help."

"Of course he needs help," said Max. "A bunch of evil scientists and an extra dimensional monster just used him to try and open the gate."

"Not just that," said El. "Will thinks he doesn't matter."

"What do you mean?" asked Max.

"He made me promise not to tell," said El. "But I know he still thinks it. He doesn't like to go to Hawkins because he thinks no one really wants to see him.. that they don't miss him."

"That isn't true," said Max. "But I can't blame him for feeling that way."

Mike happened to be looking for El at that moment. He overheard the conversation and decided to volunteer for the last shift of sitting with Will- and he decided he would take his shift alone.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"This'll all be over soon, Will," said Lucas as he and Dustin sat with Will. "You can go home and see the present we made you."

Will leaned against the wall and folded his arms over his chest. "I meant it when I said I didn't want it."

Lucas glanced at Dustin. "Look, it's a model of Minas Tirith. We've been planning it for months."

"Sounds cool," said Will as he stared out the window. "But I still don't want it."

"We built it for you," said Lucas desperately.

"You built it _ without _me," said Will. "I'm sorry you worked so hard, but I'm not going to change my mind." Will was determined to not let his friends talk him into something he had made clear he didn't want again because he knew that if he accepted the gift, it would just start the whole cycle all over.

Dustin and Lucas muttered to Mike that Will wasn't in the greatest mood as they passed him in the hall on their way out.

When Mike entered the room, he watched Will pacing back and forth (and refused Mike's help a couple times) for about a half hour before he decided to speak.

"You're really just going to give me the silent treatment?" asked Mike. "Do you hate me that much?" Mike didn't actually think that Will hated him, but he had to goad him into talking somehow.

Will stopped and stared at Mike for a moment before shaking his head and continuing to pace. "You know I don't hate you, Mike, I'm just not in the mood to talk."

That was about 12 words. It was a start. Mike felt the pieces of the picture and drawing in his pocket. He always kept them with him when he visited Will, but never have the nerve to bring it up. He made up his mind at that moment, stepped in front of Will and held them in his hand.

Will looked confused for a moment before recognition dawned on his face. "Is that why you always get so easily pissed at me whenever we visit?"

"I don't-" Mike started. "Look, what happened that day Lucas and I found you at Castle Byers?"

"Doesn't matter," said Will. "And I'm not talking about it with you."

"It *does* matter," said Mike. "And why won't you talk about it with me? You used to talk to me about these things. You still can, I'm here for you."

"I used to think you actually cared," Will shot back.

"I did care!" said Mike defensively. "I do care! Crazy together, remember?"

Mike put his hand on Will's arm, but the other boy stepped out of his reach and glared at him.

"I remember you saying that, Mike. But everything you said that week was either a lie or just wrong!"

"What? It wasn't a lie. How can you think that?"

"Because I lived it, Mike. You needed a distraction from missing El and I provided it."

"Will, you're my best friend, you weren't just a distraction. You have do know that. What did I lie about that week? How was I wrong?"

"I was afraid the Mind Flayer would spy back and you said we wouldn't let it. Only it did. It took complete control of me and killed a bunch of people. I kept having nightmares about it for months. I still do sometimes."

"Why didn't you say anything?" asked Mike.

"I tried," said Will as tears formed in his eyes. "You never wanted to listen. Do you have any idea what it was like hearing you tell me that asking me to be your friend was the best thing you'd ever done and then after I was free from the Mind Flayer and El had closed the gate, you barely wanted to talk to me? I know you were happy to have El back and all, but you made me feel like I didn't belong in the same room with you. I tried to talk to you about things several times, but you made it clear you didn't want to listen. So I finally realized it was pointless and just stopped trying."

"Will, I'm sorry. I mean, you seemed happy when you got back from the cabin. I thought you were okay."

"Of course I wasn't okay. I had been used by an evil entity that was trying to kill everyone."

"We can talk about it now," said Mike.

"I don't want to talk about it with you anymore," said Will. "You won't care about me when I'm smiling again."

"How can you say that?" asked Mike. "After everything we've been through together, how can you say that?"

"How can I not say that?" asked Will. He started to pace again and Mike grabbed his arm. WHAM!

It happened before wither of them realized it. Will's fist collided with Mike's face. The taller boy stumbled backward and fell to the floor. Mike's nose was bleeding. Will stared in horror at what he had done.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! I'm sorry, Mike, I'm sorry," said Will as he started trembling and walking backward until he was at the wall. He slid down until he was sitting on the floor. His hands were folded in front of his face and he was hyperventilating into them.

Mike stared in shock. Will had never been a violent person.

Hopper was suddenly at Mike's side asking him if he was okay. Mike simply nodded. He saw Mrs. Byers kneeling beside Will. She pulled him into a hug and pulled a syringe out of her pocket and injected it into her younger son. Will was unconscious as his mother held him and El and Jonathan joined her.

"Let's make sure that nose of yours isn't broken," said Hopper to Mike as he helped him to his feet. El looked like she was about to follow, but Hopper held out his hand. "I'll take care of Mike. You just stay with your mother and brothers, kid."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sorry about the long time between updates, I've been buying a house and moving and also working long hours the last couple months. It'll probably be December before I update any of my fics again because I'm going to try the NaNoWriMo challenge.


	4. Chapter 4 In Control

I've been a little stuck on this story, but finally just decided that if I'm struggling to write a scene, I'm just going to cut it short and go to the parts I can write. There are several scenes from future chapters that are in my head so I'm just going to write those and not let myself get stuck on the transition parts.

Chapter 4 In Control

"Have a seat," said Hopper to Mike when he led him to a bench. Hopper disappeared for a few minutes then returned with a cloth full of ice. Mike took it without protest. The last time he and Hopper had an actual conversation, it wasn't exactly friendly.

"Try not to be too angry with Will," said Hopper. "He's not really himself right now."

"I'm not angry with Will," Mike muttered through the ice pack.

"Good," said Hopper. "What about me? Are you angry with me?"

"I've thought you were dead for over a year," said Mike. "Why would I be angry with you?"

"Because I wasn't exactly an adult about things the night I told you to spend less time with El. Me making you lie to her...well it wasn't fair to her. Trust is important and I broke that trust."

Mike hesitated. "It wasn't completely your fault. I was being an asshole that night." Mike thought about the conversation with Will that led to him being punched in the face by the most gentle natured person he knew. That week Mike had managed to alienate Dustin, El and Will within a few days. In the months before that, Will had come to believe he could no longer go to Mike for help. Why hadn't he let El spend more time with the group?

Things could have been so different. Mike had always heard that friends sometimes grew apart when they got got older, but that wasn't supposed to happen to the party. Mike had been scared of the party growing apart in 1984 and resenting Max joining them, but then he himself had let- pretty much _made _it happen.

"I'd been being an asshole for months before that night," Mike continued. Hopper smiled.

"You're a lot like me, you know," said Hopper. "I'm sure that's the last thing you want to hear right now and it's the last thing I want to admit, but it's true."

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Will woke up several hours later. His mother, brother and El were all in the room with him. "Hey, Sweetheart," said Joyce as she caressed his forehead.

"W-what happened?" asked Will. He felt slightly disoriented. His forearm felt a little sore. There was a horrible familiarity to that soreness. Will sat up and pushed up his sleeve to see a slight bruising under a band-aid. "Why, Mom?"

"I didn't want to baby, I had to. Your concussion could have gotten worse and that would have been dangerous."

"It would be a lot more dangerous to lose control of my mind and let him take over again."

"That's not going to happen, Will. _I _ won't let that happen, I promise!"

"I know you'll do everything in your power to keep that promise, Mom," said Will. "But he's too powerful and I can't risk losing control, I just can't."

"Okay," said Joyce. "But remember, you aren't alone. You're far from alone If you stress yourself out too much, you won't be able to stay in control. Understand?"

Will nodded. His mother was right, but it was hard to relax.

"Besides, the gate Brenner was trying to open is closed," said Jonathan.

"That only puts a band-aid on it," said Will. "We have to figure out how to kill the Mind Flayer once and for all."

"You're right, Baby," said Joyce. "You aren't in that alone either."

"Mike was right last year when-" Will remembered hitting Mike. "Is Mike okay?"

"Mike's fine," said El. Will met her gaze before burying his face in his hands. El felt something in the pit of her stomach as she glanced at Joyce and Jonathan. She thought of Josie-the real Jane Ives and of Hopper's words as he had left with Mike...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Alice," said El as she entered the bald woman's room. Will was taking a shower while Joyce and Jonathan talked to Dr. Owens. El had considered asking Hopper, but didn't think he'd be able to answer her question yet. The fact that he wanted to to tell her whatever it when she was with the Byers family members made her all the more suspicious. "You know things."

Alice looked up at El and smiled a little. "Some things."

"I thought I was Jane...but I'm not Jane. Do you know who I am?"

"Hopper was waiting for the right time to tell you.." Alice began.

"It's the right time for you to tell me."

Alice sighed. She took El's hand. Her eyes became briefly unfocused. "It seems like you already know...or you've already guessed."

"Is that why I could see him without trying when he was in the Upside Down...and when the Mind Flayer was after him? Is that why they can sense each other? Why _we_ can sense each other?" asked El. Jonathan had once told her that he could somehow sense Joyce when she and Hopper had gone to the Upside Down to save Will and Joyce had told him that she'd heard him.

"I think so," said Alice. "Your mother was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She doesn't know what happened to her. Hopper found out from Brenner and wanted to tell her at the right time."

"Will and Jonathan, are they like me?" asked El.

"Will is," said Alice. "He doesn't have the same abilities as you, but he has them."

"What can he do?" asked El.

"He needs to discover that on his own," said Alice. "But you can help him. You know how dangerous it can be. You know how obsessed he is with killing the Mind Flayer, even if it costs him his own life. It doesn't have to come to that. I've seen him happy in a possible future. I've seen you both happy. Neither of you has to die."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Will was brushing his teeth as El approached his room. She was grateful that the other party members were giving him space at that moment. Alice's words that neither of them had to die echoed in her head. She had thought she was sacrificing life when she destroyed the demogorgan three years earlier. Will had thought he was sacrificing his own life two years earlier when he'd told the others to close the gate. She knew Will was ready to die in order to kill the Mind Flayer. She was ready herself. It didn't have to come to that.

El cleared her throat and Will turned to look at her. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I think so," said Will. He rinsed the toothbrush and wiped his face with a towel. El suddenly crossed the room and pulled him into a hug. "Are you okay, El?"

"I'm okay," said El. "I need you to be okay too."

"I'm working on it," said Will.

"I can help. Please, let me help you, Will. I don't want you to die."

"What? El, I'm not going to die!"

"You'll get yourself killed if you try to take on the Mind Flayer alone. You don't care if it kills you. I know you don't. I don't care if it kills me either, but we don't have to die!"

Will pulled away a little and looked at El. "What is going on with you? You're acting weirder than me."

"I know who I am, Will. I know who my family is. It's you. You and Jonathan are my brothers. Your Mom, she's my Mom too."

"Of course we're your family, El. We-" Will trailed off. "Wait, do you mean? Is that what Hopper wanted to tell all of us?"

"Yes," said El. "He doesn't know that I know yet. Alice told me."

Will looked in the mirror and El followed his gaze. They had the same eye and hair color. Will marveled at how much El resembled old pictures of his-_their_ mother when she was their age. Why hadn't they noticed before. Will started to feel dizzy and swayed on his feet. How was it possible that he didn't know he had a sister? That his mother didn't know.

"You need to sit," said El as she led him to a sofa. Will normally resisted when people tried to make him rest, but he was feeling something he hadn't felt since before he was freed from the Mind Flayer: utter trust in another person. He realized that he wasn't afraid that El would judge him or treat him like a baby or forget he was still struggling once the crisis was over. It felt good to feel that kind of trust again. Actually, it felt amazing.

"What so we do now?" asked Will as El sat next to him and wrapper her arms around him as though it was the most natural thing in the world. She was feeling the need to make up for lost time.

"We get our powers back," said El.

"Our powers? I don't have any powers."

"You do, we just need to figure out what they are."

"How?"

"I know someone who can help," said El as she thought Kali. "I just have to get strong enough to find her again. I can feel my powers coming back."

"You can?" asked Will.

"Yes. I saw that Papa had you. It was just like when I could see the demogorgan took you to the Upside Down."

"You saw that? Like when it happened?"

"Yes, I had now memories. I should have told you. I should have told you a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"I don't know... just things. You would have understood when I needed to talk."

Will was silent for a moment. "Yes and you would have understood how I was feeling. We should have been friends sooner."

"I should have talked to you sooner. You were really sick that night I closed the gate, so I decided to just let you rest. Then I just... I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Will murmured. "I wasn't allowed to go anywhere by myself for over a year after I got back from the Upside Down. When Mom finally let me ride my bike around town again, the guys just weren't interested in the same things anymore. I just felt like I was tagging along instead of really being a part of the group. It sucked, but what do I really have to complain about? You were barely allowed to leave the cabin most of the time. And before that, you were stuck in a lab your whole life."

El squeezed Will's hand. She had heard him say 'what do I have to complain about?' several times since they'd moved from Hawkins. She realized he'd been holding a lot in. That was probably why he often skipped visiting Hawkins and had so often ended up angry or upset with his friends-particularly Mike- so often.

"Will, it's okay to be upset. It's okay to complain sometimes."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Here, kid, have some water," said an orderly as he handed Mike a plastic cup.

"Thanks," said Mike.

"Do you need any aspirin?"

"No, I'm fine," said Mike before drinking the water.

"Didn't know Will had that in him," said Dustin. Lucas elbowed him. "What?"

"He didn't mean it," said Lucas. "I mean, he said he was sorry right away, didn't he?"

"And he was kidnapped by a mad scientist," said Max. "He's been under a lot of stress."

"Well, he didn't punch any of you in the face," said Mike.

"I think he wanted to when we kept talking about his present," said Dustin.

"Yeah, he's really determined to not accept it," said Lucas.

"I just want to make things right with him again," said Mike.

"Maybe don't try so hard," said Max.

"Easy for you to say," said Mike. "He's not pissed at you or El."

"I'm not as close to him as you guys are," said Max. "He doesn't want to get hurt again."

"We aren't trying to hurt him," said Mike.

"I know you aren't, but it keeps happening. A lot of the time, it's been because you were trying to hard. Coming up with that lie about a couples game wasn't a great idea. You guys wanted to surprise Will, but didn't think about what he wanted."

"What do you suggest we do?" asked Mike.

"Just let him cool off and feel what he feels," said Max. "He did say that he thought that you were the one person who understood him, Mike. Try being that person again."

"How can I be that person?" asked Mike. "He prefers hanging out with Lucas now. Dustin too."

"So?" said Lucas. "We're his friends too. You only knew him a few weeks before I did; And I can balance having a girlfriend with having friends."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Mike.

"C'mon, Mike. You appointed yourself Will's personal protector after he got back from the Upside Down. You wouldn't let us help him most of the time," said Lucas.

"You two were treating him like a helpless baby all the time," said Mike.

"You were treating him like an annoyance once El came back," Lucas shot back.

"That's not true," said Mike defensively.

"Guys! Can we not do this now?" said Dustin. "We should be talking to Will."

"He wanted some time alone," said Mike.

"He's had some time," said Dustin. "Besides, Jonathan said he felt bad about punching you when he woke up. Maybe he's ready to talk and work things out."

"I should probably talk to him alone," said Mike.

"That hasn't been working out so well," said Dustin. "And like Lucas said: we're his friends too. We want to help Will too."

Mike threw his empty cup the orderly had given him in a random garbage can. He couldn't help but feel that his friends were ganging on him. They walked in silence down the halls to Will's room. When they were almost there, they heard El's voice.

"Just promise you'll remember, you aren't alone in this anymore, Will. You have me now. We're in this together."

"I promise," said Will. "We're in this together. You have me too."

Max, Lucas, and Dustin all stopped, not wanting to interrupt. Mike froze.

"We have each other from now on, we love each other," said El. "I love you, Will."

"I love you too, El."

Mike's face was bright red and Dustin, Lucas, and Max glanced nervously at him. Mike suddenly started angrily into the room. Lucas and Dustin grabbed his arms.

"Get off," Mike hissed as he freed himself from their grasp. He ran to the door and saw them with their arms around each other. El was caressing the back of Will's head. They both looked up to see Mike's angry face and jumped to their feet.

"Mike-" El began, but fell silent and words failed her.

"Mike, we-it isn't..." Will stammered.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Mike shouted at Will, who looked frightened. "YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!"

"Mike, calm down!" said Lucas and he stood in front of Mike. Dustin quickly joined him.

"Yeah, Will didn't take anyone away from you," said Dustin as Max ran to El's side and put her hand on her shoulder.

"HE COULD HAVE TOLD HIS MOM HE DIDN'T WANT TO MOVE, BUT HE DIDN'T. HE DIDN'T!"

Mike pushed past Dustin and Lucas before they could stop him. He grabbed Will by the shoulders and shoved him into a metal cabinet. Will grunted with pain as his back hit the door handle.

"Jesus, Mike, stop! He's recovering from a concussion," said Dustin and Lucas ran over and tried to pry Mike's hands off of Will.

"DID YOU THINK THAT YOU COULD STEAL HER FROM ME IF YOU GOT HER AWAY FROM HAWKINS!"

El screamed and Mike felt as though an electric shock hit both of his hands. He let go of Will and stumbled back into Lucas and Dustin.

El quickly stepped in front of Will and held her arms out protectively. Her nose was bleeding slightly. "He's not trying to steal me from you, Mike."

"You were saying 'I love you' to each other," said Mike angrily.

"Because he's my brother-my twin brother!" Everyone gaped at them. Will gently pushed past El and walked over to the sink where he started splashing cold water on his face. He started to tremble and put his hands on the sink to steady himself. Mike came to his senses. He felt horrified at his actions as saw Will taking calming breaths. What had he done? Why had he done it?

"Shit, Will, I'm so sorry," said Mike and he started toward Will.

"Don't come any closer and don't touch me," said Will as he turned and glared at Mike. Mike froze as the anger and hurt in Will's voice.

"Will, I'd never hurt you. You have to know that, please!"

"I don't have to know anything," Will spat. "It sure hurt like hell when my back hit that door handle," said Will as he gestured at the cabinet."

"I'm sorry, Will. I'm just...really sorry."

Will closed his eyes and shook his head. "You know what? Don't worry about it. We'll just call it even for me punching you in the face this morning."

Sarah suddenly ran into the room, she stopped to catch her breath. Hopper came in a few seconds later. "Someone's trying to get you to fight each other." said Sarah.

"What do you mean?" asked Max.

"I bumped into an orderly and saw a vision of him giving Mike a glass of water to drink. There was something in it."

Everyone was silent for several seconds. Will glanced around at them and headed for the door. El grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"

"To see Josie- I mean Jane. She could probably use a friend right now."

"Is that all? Do you promise?" asked El.

"Yes, it's all. I promise," said Will.

"Will, I need you with me when we tell Mom and Jonathan."

"I'll be there, I promise," said Will. He gave her a quick, but reassuring hug.

"I believe you," said El as she released him. He left the room as the others stared in silence. Mike broke from his stupor and followed Will as he felt that familiar terror that Will would vanish into thin air gripping him. The memory of Will having a seizure when the soldier burned the vines popped into Mike's mind.

"Will, stop, please. Let's talk. I really would never hurt you. Now we know why I was acting so insane. That stuff that guy gave me... whatever it was, it made me go crazy."

Will stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Mike. "It didn't make you go crazy. It just made you say what you've been thinking all along. You blame me for El leaving Hawkins and you. That's why you're always so pissed at me."

"I ... it's not..like that," Mike stammered. Will took a few steps toward Mike.

"Oh it is like that. But you know what? You actually took her from me, Mike. She was my sister all this time and you kept her from me. You never let me get to know her. Even though I didn't know she was my sister, she should have been my friend. She saved my life. We could have helped each other. We could have worked together. But you couldn't have that, could you?"

"Will, I'm sorry. I was wrong about so many things and made so many mistakes-"

"Yeah and when you were making those mistakes, you didn't care that I was hurting, so right now I don't care that you're sorry. Now leave me alone."

"Will," said Hopper as he came out into the hallway. "You shouldn't be going off on your own. There's been at least one spy here. They're after you."

"I'll be careful," said Will.

"I know you'll be careful," said Hopper. "But it may not be enough."

"He's right," said Mike. "You can put yourself in danger."

El felt some anger rising in her as she remembered the months between closing the gate and losing her powers. She ran out into the hallway and stood in front of Will, facing Mike and Hopper. "Leave him alone!"

"El, we're trying to keep him safe," said Mike.

"Yes, the 'don't be stupid rule' is more important now than ever."

"We make our own rules," said El as she glanced at Max. "You both tried to control me and keep me to yourselves for months. I know you did it because you love me, but you were also scared. I won't let you do it to Will. He can take care of himself. _We_ can take care of _ourselves."_

"Thanks, El," said Will. "I'll be there when you're ready to talk to Mom and Jonathan." He turned and started jogging down the hall. Mike saw as Will winced a bit and grabbed his back. El saw it too and remembered the day she had made Max fall off her skateboard because she thought Mike may have liked her. She felt bad about that because Max had become a good friend to her. She also wished that she had paid attention to Will that day. Perhaps she could have prevented him from getting possessed by the Mind Flayer.

"El, you're right. I shouldn't have tried to control your life so much all those months," said Hopper. "I was acting out of fear and that caused me to do a lot of things I shouldn't have done."

Hopper thought about finding out that Joyce was planning to move. It had caused him to go into panic mode. He has started trying to push her into a relationship instead of letting her grieve for Bob. He had also panicked as he saw El spending more and more time with Mike, fearing that he was losing her as well.

"I've done things I shouldn't have done when I was scared too," said El. "I made Max fall off her skateboard when she was talking to Mike at school the day the Mind Flayer got Will."

"So it was you. You were there," said Mike. El nodded. She looked directly at Max.

"I'm sorry," she said with tears in her eyes.

"So that's why you didn't want to shake my hand that night," said Max. El nodded.

"I was being stupid."

"Don't worry about it. Ancient history," said Max.

"You're not mad?" asked El. Max shook her head. She walked over and hugged El. El looked over Max's shoulders at Mike.

He silently wished that Will could forgive him as easily as Max had forgiven El, but knew that Will had been hurt by him so much more than El had hurt Max. He thought of the night that El had closed the gate.

Mrs. Byers, Jonathan, and Nancy had brought him back from the cabin. He had bruises and rope burns on his arms and wrists. There was another, much more severe burn on the side of his abdomen. Nancy had told Mike that she had done that to give the Mind Flayer to stop strangling Joyce.

_"Mike," Will said weakly as his eyes opened slightly to see Mike sitting at his side._

_"Hey, easy Will. Get some rest. I'll be right here, I promise," said Mike as he squeezed Will's hand._

_"Okay," said Will. He drifted off to sleep._

Mike hadn't kept his promise. He had left Will's side the second El had come back from closing the gate at the lab. She had wanted to see Will and talk to him, but Mike had insisted that Will needed to rest. He hadn't managed to visit Will again before he was well enough to return to school. Will's words from a few minutes earlier echoed in Mike's head:

_You actually took her from me, Mike. She was my sister all this time and you kept her from me. You never let me get to know her. Even though I didn't know she was my sister, she should have been my friend. We could have helped each other. We could have worked together. But you couldn't have that, could you?_

Mike realized that Will was right. He had known that Will and El could help each other with everything they'd gone through and he'd felt threatened by that. He had felt threatened by El growing closer to anyone else.

Mike couldn't help but wonder how things would have been different if he had let El get to know Will in those months. Maybe Hopper wouldn't have gotten so annoyed at him spending so much time with El and given him the ultimatum that led to him lying to her, causing her to dump his ass. Will wouldn't have reached his tipping point when Mike and Lucas laughed at his campaign. Perhaps the Byers family wouldn't have left Hawkins at all. El and Will could have worked together to stop the Mind Flayer sooner and Hopper wouldn't have disappeared.

Mike realized he had never fully made up with Will after their D&D argument. He was feeling the presence of the Mind Flayer by the time Lucas and Mike found him at a destroyed Castle Byers. At that point, they were all focused on figuring out how to stop the Mind Flayer. Will had shrugged off their apologies and barely let them talk him into changing into dry clothes.

Mike had barely managed to talk Will into staying at his house that night. As of 2 am, neither Jonathan nor Joyce had come home and Mike had no interest in leaving Will alone.

When El and Max had arrived the next morning, Mike started to explain what had happened to Will the night before. Speaking for Will to the other party members was an old habit as Will had always been extremely shy even with his friends. He had changed when Castle Byers was destroyed. _We're not kids anymore. _Will had said, throwing Mike's own words back at him. _I can speak for myself._

As Mike went over the events of the past couple of years and pondered ways to fix his mistakes and bring his friendship with Will back to their crazy together days, Hopper took El aside while Sarah took a seat. "Listen, kid, there were a lot of things I could have handled a lot better. There were times when I should have been the adult and I wasn't or when I drank too much. I'm sorry about all that."

"You were scared," said El. "I've been scared a lot too. But I can make up my own mind about things and so can Will."

"I know you can," said Hopper. "But you have to be careful. There's some very bad people after you and your brother as well as some very bad creatures from another dimension."

"I understand," said El. "We both understand, but now we have each other."

"Are you ready to tell your mom and Jonathan?"

"When Will's done talking to Jane."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As Will entered her room Josie-no Jane was drawing on a pad of paper. She looked up and saw Will. Relief spread across her face.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah, I am," said Will. "How are you doing after... everything?"

"I don't know. I've been thinking I'm someone else over over a year. Those memories they put in my head felt so real. My friendship with you, though, that was real. I know they put me there to be a spy or something, but I really do consider you my friend, Will."

"I know," said Will. "I feel the same way."

"Good," said Jane. "Because I feel like I'm going insane and don't know what's real anymore. I'm having memories of what he did to me in the lab. The way he talked was so creepy and manipulative. I made me do things... made me hurt people and animals. I didn't want to, I never wanted to. I want him dead, Will."

"Brenner?" asked Will. Jane nodded. "When that thing, the-I don't know-"

"Demogorgan?"

"Yes. When it knocked you out and opened up the gate, there was something very weird about the way Brenner wanted the gate to be open. He get getting some sick pleasure. It brought back memories I didn't even know I had."

"El and I are trying to figure out how to stop him and the Mind Flayer."

"The Mind Flayer?"

"Yeah, it's this sort of entity that controls the Upside Down. It controlled me a couple of years ago, but my Mom got it out. Part of it stayed in Hawkins and turned a bunch of people into Zombies."

"The Upside Down?" asked Jane.

"There's a lot that you don't know about me and El," said Will.

"I figured when you and Hopper said that El thought she was me," said Jane. "Maybe I can help you. If you're trying to stop Brenner and everything he's doing I want to help you. Tell me."

"It's a long story," said Will.

"What else are we going to do while we're in this place?" asked Jane.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yep, I went there again. I thought it was interesting that Eleven was never referred to as Jane in season 3. There were still some character twin journey's with Will and Eleven, though not as obvious as in the first two season. They were both very dependent on Mike in the first two seasons and in season 3, became a little independent of him. They both have scenes where they tell him off because he's acting like an idiot and not really seeing their point of view instead of being the empathetic person he was in the first two seasons. El starts tp prefer Max's company and Will starts to prefer Lucas' company. Then, at the end of the season, Will leaves behind his D&D stuff and El leaves behind her Teddy bear (they both put those things into the donation box. Hopefully they have some meaningful interaction in season 4. I think Mike is going to be severely depressed.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: The Things Still Buried

Things had been utterly flipped on their head for the Byers family since the last time they had set foot in their home three days earlier. They had to pretend everything was normal for the outside world. Once again, the parent's of Will's friends had no idea how much danger their children were in.

Joyce had hoped she was getting her children away from everything that haunted them in Hawkins, but it had only followed them. She had lost her job at the store for having to call off the weekend before Christmas. That didn't bother her very much. She wasn't stranded financially for the first time in her life as Hopper had managed to get them some compensation for all their troubles that stemmed from Hawkins Lab.

She had always had an easy bond with Eleven. Joyce had easily loved her like a daughter and it felt natural to take her in and care for her when Hopper had disappeared. She had always known that something had happened while she was in labor with Will and it had caused her to be overprotective of him his entire life. It was almost an obsession; only it had been instincts all along, Brenner and his people had been watching Will his entire life-while they had been torturing his sister.

Sarah and Alice had checked the house for bugs, so Joyce decided to have a private conversation with her children. "Will, El, Jonathan, can I talk to you alone?" she asked as the others were hanging up their coats. She hadn't felt comfortable having that conversation while at a government facility.

Joyce's children followed her to her room. She closed the door behind them.

"Is everything okay, Mom?" asked Will. "All things considered at least..."

"If it isn't, we're going to make it okay- all of us," said Joyce. She saw the three of them exchanging curious looks and smiled. They all had good instincts and she was going to make sure they followed them.

"I had a reputation for being unhinged in Hawkins," said Joyce.

Jonathan scoffed. "Only with the idiots in town."

"Maybe," said Joyce. "But I've been overprotective of Will his entire life because I always had this fear that he was in danger. I didn't know how or why, but every instinct told me that someone or something was after him. You were always so independent, Will, and after you got back from the Upside Down, I was just terrified if I couldn't see you. I kept you from doing the things you liked to do for so long and you missed out on so much. I'm sorry, Baby."

"It's okay, Mom. You were right, we just didn't know it," said Will. He did feel a sense of loss for the time he wasn't allowed to freely do things on his own, but he didn't resent his mother.

Joyce walked over and hugged her youngest child and kissed his forehead. "No, I had no idea what was really going on, but we all know the truth now. And now that we know, we can protect ourselves better. Hawkins Lab, the Upside Down: they messed with the wrong family."

Will, El, and Jonathan all looked up in surprise at their mother.

"We're not going to let them control our lives," Joyce continued. "We're not going to live in fear. I don't know how we're going to defeat them once and for all and get them out of our lives, but now that we know, we can figure it out."

"Yes," said El as she glanced at Will. "We can."

"I could come back and help," said Jonathan "Finish my degree later."

"No," said Will. "Mom's right. We're not going to let them run our lives anymore, and we're certainly not going to let them ruin something you worked so hard to get. Now that we know, we can figure things out."

"Will's right, honey," said Joyce. "You had to spend years working to help me with the bills because your father wasn't paying child support; and that wasn't fair. You still managed to do well in school and get a full scholarship. They aren't going to take that away from you."

Joyce glanced from Jonathan to Will and El.

"Will, you survived in that place for a week. You survived being possessed by that thing and fought it every step of the way. You even outsmarted it with the morse code. And El, you were raised by that man to be a weapon and you're still a good person. We're going to get through whatever happens next. Now that we know that whatever all this is will follow us wherever we go, we can move back to Hawkins if you want. I've never been completely sure if taking you from your friends was the right choice."

El saw something flash in Will's face for a fleeting moment. If she hadn't learned to read him so well, she would have missed it. She understood the look: Will didn't want to go back to Hawkins, but wasn't going to say anything because he believed that she, El, may want to go back. Part of her really did. She wanted to be with Mike again. On the other hand, she didn't want to be near the lab, even if it was shut down. There were a lot of other things about the town of Hawkins that she didn't like. The way that people had always treated her brothers and mother were among them.

"I-I don't want to go back," said El. "Too close to the lab. Too many bad memories." Will gave her a look that was mixed with surprise and gratitude.

"I really don't want to go back either," he said. "I do miss my friends, but they've moved on and so have I; and it's nice to walk down the halls at school and not have everyone staring at me. It's also good to not live in a town full of people who don't treat you like you're crazy, Mom."

El remembered the way the people at stared at her when she went into the Big Buy store. She was aware that the people in Hawkins stared at Will like that all the time.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You should just get your money back," said Will to Mike, Dustin and Lucas as he indicated the Minith Tirith model. "I just don't want to keep it."

"We're not taking it back," said Lucas. "We know a lot of things have happened in the past few days and it's been really weird for you, but we got that as a Christmas present for you and it's yours." Mike and Dustin nodded in agreement.

Will shut his eyes and leaned against the wall. El and Max exchanged a look.

"Since it's mine," said Will. "I can do whatever I want with it, right?"

"You don't want to demolish, do you?" asked Dustin. Will shook his head. "Then yes, it's yours and you can do whatever you want with it.

Will walked over and picked up the phone. "Hey, it's Will Byers. I've got something to donate to the shelter. Is there anyone who can come by to pick it up? Yeah, tomorrow's fine."

"You're donating it?" asked an astonished Lucas.

"Yep," said Will. He had a mildly defiant look on his face. "If you want to take it and get your money back, I can call the homeless shelter and cancel the pick up."

"No," said Mike. "If this is what you want to do, it's your call, Will."

He put his hand on Will's shoulder. Will seemed slightly startled. Mike pulled his hand away. Although Will had accepted Mike's apology after talking to Jane, he still seemed anxious after the whole incident of Mike blaming him for El leaving. Mike wanted more than anything for things to be like they once were with Will, but the more he tried, the more he seemed to push Will away.

Perhaps on some level he had blamed Will for El leaving Hawkins. Maybe Will feared it deep down and Mike's drug induced outburst had confirmed Will's fears. He seemed to be afraid to trust Mike again.

"Yeah, it is what I want," said Will.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I agree with your kids," said Hopper as he and Joyce talked in her room. "I really don't want to go back to that shit hole either. We actually do have options now, especially since we're doing this whole thing together and not alone."

"I'm terrified, to be honest," said Joyce. "Part of me wants to just take Will and El and hide in a bunker somewhere, but they've both missed out on so many things because we were afraid to let them do anything on their own for so long. I don't want to cause them to miss out on anything else."

"We know what's going on now," said Hopper. "Sam Owens and his people know what's going on and they're on our side. Alice is definitely on our side."

"She was held captive by Brenner for so long," said Joyce. "Are you sure she's not a sleeper agent or something?"

"She figured out how to resist his suggestions," said Hopper.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The the night before Christmas Eve, most of the party members sat in the basement playing Will's Atari. Mike and El had gone to El's room to talk privately. Will was looking in a text book and making notes in his notebook while Dustin took his turn.

"Are you doing school work?" asked Lucas. "Didn't you have semester exams before break? Why would you have homework?"

"I'm just doing some assignments early," said Will.

"Why?" asked Dustin without taking his eyes off the screen.

"Oh, I don't know," said Will. "In case something from the Upside Down or Brenner's people attacks me again and causes me to miss school and fall behind."

"Sorry," said Lucas. "We didn't think.. we didn't mean anything."

"Nothing to be sorry for, don't worry," said Will as he slammed his notebook shut and stood up. He started to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" asked Lucas. Will's tone reminded him of the day he had tried to apologize to him in the shed by the Hawkins community pool. "Let's talk about this."

"I'm going to take a shower and there's nothing to talk about," said Will. "Are you two going to be alright?" he asked Sarah and Jane who were sitting with Max. They both nodded and Will headed up the stairs without another word.

"Something's going on with him," said Lucas to Dustin.

"Well, yeah," said Jane. "He was kidnapped by mad scientists and attacked by an inter dimensional monster a few days ago. He's a little on edge."

"We're his friends, we can help him," said Lucas.

"Try helping him by not pushing him," said Jane.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Will heard Mike and El's voices in the hallway as he approached his room. He tried not to listen.

"You should come to Hawkins for New Years," said Mike. "We've been invited to this big party, and it'll be fun."

"I can't," said El. "Will and I, we-"

"I mean, Will can come too," said Mike. Will rolled his eyes and plugged his ears. That was a common thing that he often over heard Mike saying when he invited El to Hawkins. 'Will too.'

He, Will, had no desire to take along on a trip to Hawkins and wait for the moment that Mike decided to spend any time with him. He certainly had no desire to be trapped at the Wheeler house unable to go home if he felt like it. It was once a place where he loved going or ran to hide from his father, but ever since his family left Hawkins, the Wheeler home felt like a prison when Will visited.

As Will started to remove his shirt, he heard his bedroom door open behind him and Mike clearing his throat. Of course it wouldn't occur to Mike to knock.

Mike felt a stab of guilt as he noticed the bruising on Will's back from when he'd slammed Will into the cabinet.

"I'm about to take a shower," said Will.

"This'll only take a minute," said Mike.

"What is it?"

"Well, there's this New Year's Eve party we all got invited to."

"Congratulations," said Will dryly.

"You should come. It'll be fun."

"No thanks," said Will. "It's not my thing and I'm sure whoever is throwing the party doesn't want Zombie Boy there."

"It's Jennifer Hayes," said Mike. "She never called you Zombie Boy."

"She was always pretty nice to me," said Will. "But I just don't want to go."

If Mike could have seen inside Will's mind at that moment, he wouldn't have pushed. Unfortunately he was completely unaware of how Will was feeling at that moment. Partly because Will no longer confided in Mike like he used to when they were younger and partly because Mike himself wasn't as good at spotting when something was wrong as he used to be.

"C'mon," said Mike. "El won't go if you don't. Think of El. Besides, you gave away that model we made for you. You owe us."

Will's face remained impassive. When Mike would go over that wording in his head sometime later, he wanted to kick himself.

"Fine," said Will. "Can I go take my shower now?"

"Yeah, sure," said Mike. "It'll be fun, you'll see." Mike ran back to El's room.

Will stood in the shower a couple minutes later trying to absorb the heat from the water. Of course Mike and possibly Dustin and Lucas as well would think that he, Will, owed them because he had refused to do something that they had wanted him to do. He wasn't an equal member of the party and never had been.

The moments when the others had walked off without noticing that they'd left him behind flashed in his mind. It had been so common. Will felt stupid when he remembered Mike and Lucas running to the mall and leaving him behind as he was setting up the D&D board. _'Guys, I'm still here!' _he had shouted. Why had he followed them? He didn't matter to them at that moment. His feelings hadn't mattered unless he showed them how upset he was, and then they'd try really hard to placate him.

"You don't matter," said Will quietly to himself, the temporary good feeling he'd had from his mother telling him that they weren't going yo let the lab and the Upside Down run their lives had faded. He sank to his knees and started sobbing. The sound of the running water covered up his voice and his crying. "You don't matter, you don't matter, you don't matter," Will said over and over again.

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This is somewhat following the same theory that my pre-season 3 MKUltra Ripple. The main difference here? Will and El didn't get to bond because Mike and Hopper (both behaved badly in season 3 because they were afraid of losing her and the Duffers were trying to pay tribute to 80s tropes regarding romance. The problem with trying to pay tribute to those tropes is that they were bad tropes. Those kind of tropes were why couples getting together were jump the shark moments. Mike was like Ben Wyatt or Jake Peralta in Seasons one and two. He was a nice guy who was in love and still maintained friendships. Season three he was more like Jim Halpert. He wasn't a bad person, but got a little cocky once he got a girlfriend and had laughs at other people's expense. Hopper was a great friend to Joyce in the first two seasons, but then started acting like a jerk because she wasn't ready for a relationship. It also was wrong of him to make Mike lie to El. Yes, Mike was being an obnoxious jerk, but Hopper needed to be an adult. Anyway, I hope we see them return to the characters they were in the first two seasons because they were just tributes to bad 80s tropes in season 3.

I had a theory about Brenner, which I touched on in MKUltra Ripple, but will be explored more in this fic. There will be some weird twists in coming chapters.


	6. CHapter 6- New Years in Hawkins

Chapter 6 New Years in Hawkins

"I can't believe I let them go, what was I thinking?" Joyce asked Hopper as Sarah looked at some kittens at the animal shelter. Dr. Owens had thought it would be therapeutic for Sarah to have a pet to care for after everything she'd been through.

"You were thinking that you weren't going to let Brenner and his people run your family's life anymore," said Hopper.

"I know," said Joyce. "I meant that when I said it. It's just..Will seemed a little off, like he didn't really want to go, but he was trying to pretend that everything was okay."

"He's not gonna be okay after everything that happened," said Hopper as he squeezed Joyce's hand. Not until after all thing is over, at least. But it will be over, Joyce, I promise."

Hopper glanced at a dog in one of the kennels. Will had stopped to pet that dog when Hopper was out with him the day after Christmas. The people running the shelter had mentioned that Will had visited that particular dog a couple times. The dog was a dark red with black hair scattered throughout her coat. She was some sort of medium sized mutt.

"Will was pretty upset when Chester died," Hopper remarked. "It happened right in the middle of the aftermath of him getting trapped in the Upside Down too."

"It was a bit of salt in an open wound," said Joyce.

"What's the story with that dog over there?" Hopper asked one of the volunteers.

"She's been really skittish," said the girl. "Tomorrow's her last day."

"Last day?" asked Sarah as she looked up anxiously from the kittens.

"Well, we can't let that happen," said Hopper as he looked at the dog staring sadly at the wall of her kennel.

"What do you mean?" asked Joyce.

"That dog seemed to like Will," said Hopper. "Maybe he's meant to have her. They'll be good for each other. Why don't you pick out a kitten for El while you're at it, Sarah."

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Will had been focusing on hiding his overwhelming desire to leave since he and his siblings had arrived in Hawkins the day before New Years Eve. When Mike had invited him (or insisted that he come) a part of Will had hoped that his mother would say no. Unfortunately, she had been on the kick of not letting Brenner and the Upside Down control their lives. Will decided to take Mike's advice and think of El.

He had decided to work on future school assignments while Mike and El were having alone time. Unfortunately, Mike had been trying to overcompensate for all the times he'd left out Will on past visits. He showed Will his Nintendo and started games of Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda with the party members. It was something that would have made Will happy in the past, but his heart just wasn't in it anymore.

Part of him just wanted to be honest with his friends and tell them that it was okay for them to just hang out with their girlfriends and he didn't feel like playing; but he went along with things. If for no other reason, he didn't want to give them an excuse to say that he owed them again. Mike and Lucas constantly glancing at him as he played was very unnerving. Will, who didn't want to give anything away pretended to focus on the games.

Will had always been shy when he lived in Hawkins. He'd become much more bold when he moved to Pawnee. Being at the party with his old classmates from Hawkins Middle had brought back his old social anxiety as people walked past him, stared, pointed and whispered. Mike and Lucas didn't notice as they were focused on El and Max and the drinks they'd all been given that night.

Dustin, whose girlfriend was over a thousand miles away, noticed that Will seemed anxious. "Hey, Byers," said Dustin. "Steve and Robin are gonna pick me up in half an hour to go to a party at the community college. Why don't you come too, and the couples here can have the alone time they so obviously want."

"That actually-" Will began.

"What?" Lucas cut in. "If you really want to go to that college party, we can't stop you. But you're not dragging Will to it as well."

"I'm not dragging him," said Dustin. "I'm asking him if he wants to go."

"His mom'll freak out if he goes there," said Mike. "Do you really want to face the wrath of Mrs. Byers.?"

"Sorry," said Dustin. "It was just an idea."

Will focused on keeping his face impassive as he sipped his drink. Of course what he, Will, wanted didn't matter to his friends.

Shortly after Dustin left the party Max and Lucas disappeared to go make out. Mike and El quickly got the urge to follow suit. El didn't seem to want to leave Will alone at first, but soon started laughing at whispering with Mike before they disappeared down down the hall.

Part of Will didn't care. Another part of him was annoyed that his friends had insisted he come to Hawkins, then insisted that he stay at the party before ditching him yet again. He knew that El wouldn't have left him if she'd known how he was feeling, but he'd kept his anxiety about Hawkins from her because he'd wanted her and Jonathan to have a good time.

Will saw a kid staring out the window. He looked more anxious about being there than Will himself felt. He didn't know the kid and figured he must have been new. Will felt sorry for him and decided to go talk to him. What else was he going to do?

"Hey, are you alright?" Will asked the kid. He looked at Will slightly startled at first, but seemed to recognize him.

"I'm fine, just waiting for my mom to pick me up," he said. "This party isn't really my thing."

"That makes two of us," said Will. He held out his hand. "Will Byers. I used to live here."

"I know," said the kid. "My mom and I moved into your old house. They gave me your old locker too, apparently. Randy Burns." Randy shook Will's hand. "Mike Wheeler sometimes acts like I stole your locker or something. Don't get me started on your old seat in biology."

"Well, Mike can be a bit of a dick if he's going through something. And it was only my locker and seat in biology for about a month," said Will. "Sorry about that."

"It's not your fault," said Randy. "He was just upset about you moving away."

"I doubt it. He was more upset about... someone else leaving."

"Oh no, he was upset about you leaving, trust me," said Randy. Will didn't feel like arguing. A small sedan pulled up. "That's my mom. Gotta go. It was nice meeting you."

With that, Will suddenly found himself standing alone again. He considered just leaving, but where would he go? Could he do that to El? She might try to use her powers to find him. They were only just starting to come back and Will feared she might hurt herself.

"Hi, Will," said Jennifer Hayes from behind him. "Enjoying the party?" Will, of course wasn't particularly happy to be there, but saw no reason to say that to Jennifer who had always been nice to him. He turned around and saw her standing with Julie Mason, the girl he had danced with at the snowball. She looked anxious as well.

"Oh, hey, yeah the party's great, thanks," said Will.

"Great," said Jennifer. "We're glad you could come. I have to check on something. Why don't you and Julie catch up."

Will saw a blush creep up Julie's face. She looked petrified. Jennifer elbowed her playfully and took off.

"You two look like you could use some punch," said a kid that Will didn't recognize. He handed Will and Julie each a glass of red liquid. They both took a sip. Will saw a group of kids staring at him and whispering. Julie followed his gaze.

"Want to get away from the crowd?" she asked.

"I do," said Will.

"I know a place," said Julie as she gestured for him to follow.

"You do?" asked Will.

"Yeah. Jenn's my best friend. I practically grew up in this house."

Julie led Will to a staircase that went to the attic. It was warm and clean for an attic. They could see out the window to the snow outside. Frost covered the window. The freezing weather kept Will trapped in a house that was in a now strange town that was no longer his home. In some ways it felt as though it never had been his home.

"What's on your mind?" asked Julie.

"Just wondering if I ever really belonged here," said Will. The thought of a cover story not occurring to him in that moment. Julie was silent for a moment.

"Oh," she said as she swirled her cup of punch. "Well, for what it's worth, I wish we'd gotten to know each other better. We were hoping you'd join the decathlon team or something. You were always so smart."

Will looked up at her. He remembered that team starting and remembered considering signing up, but didn't. He had been desperately trying to cling to the party at that time.

"Yeah, I wish I had too. Maybe things would have been different... better. I was trying to cling to stupid things and that just made my life... crappy."

"What do you mean?" asked Julie. Will looked at her thoughtfully. She had always been nice to him. He also felt a small amount of savage pleasure in confiding in someone who wasn't Mike or any other member of the party. He was angry at them for insisting he go to a party he didn't want to go to, then ditching him again.

"After I went missing, my mom barely let me do anything. I couldn't ride my bike or go places with my friends anymore. She finally started to let me ride my bike around town again after 8th grade and I thought I was getting my life back, but things had changed. Lucas and Mike had girlfriends and Dustin went to summer camp.

"It was like they didn't notice when I was there half the time or had me around out of pity. That sucked. We'd sometimes sneak into R rated movies. They always had me carry the snacks in my backpack. It's not a huge deal, but they always insisted I do it. They'd run off without knowing they'd left me behind and I kept trying to make things like they used to be like an idiot. Then one day, Mike and Lucas finally sat down for a campaign, but made fun of it and me to my face the whole time. I tried to pretend it wasn't happening until I couldn't anymore. I just felt so stupid."

Will wiped a tear from his face. "Anyway, maybe all that would have been different if I'd tried things outside of our party, them moving on and getting girlfriends wouldn't have bothered me so much. Nothing has changed. They still keep ditching me every time I come her or when they visit me and Mike gets pissed if I don't sit around patiently waiting for my turn to hang out with him."

"Mike's been pretty moody since you left," said Julie. "I think he really misses you."

Will shook his head. "It's not me he misses."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I know it," said Will as he ran his finger over the window. It was freezing.

"For what it's worth, I've missed you," said Julie. "I mean, we barely spoke, but I missed you a lot when you moved."

"You did?" asked Will

"Yeah," said Julie. She stared at her feet and started to blush. "I-I still have that Tonka Truck you gave me in second grade."

"You do?" asked Will. "Why?"

"It was just a nice thing for you to do and it meant a lot. Your dad had just left and you still did something nice for me because my grandma had just died... Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

"When I asked you to dance at the Snow Ball two years ago, you seemed a little hesitant. Why?"

"Oh, well it was just... I hadn't really wanted to go to the dance that night but my friends had talked me into it. I didn't really think anyone would actually want to dance with me. And when people called me 'Zombie Boy' they usually weren't being nice so I thought you were asking me as a joke or part of a prank or something."

Julie cringed. "Sorry. I just thought it was kind of a cool nickname. I should have thought...just... sorry."

"It's fine," said Will.

"So, are you seeing anyone in Pawnee?"

"No," said Will. "A lot of people think that my friend Jos-Jane is my girlfriend, but we're just friends. Anyway, I've been focusing on studying a lot. I need a scholarship if I'm ever going to go to college." Will thought of the inter-dimensional monsters that constantly haunted him. "Another reason I should have joined the decathlon team, I guess. But Model UN is pretty cool."

"Pawnee has Model UN?" asked Julie. "I wish Hawkins did."

"It's pretty cool," said Will. "Sometimes people from other schools can join in. You should come and participate sometime."

"Maybe I will," said Julie with a small smile.

"I'd like that," said Will. Without thinking he leaned in and kissed her. He suddenly pulled back. "Sorry."

"It's New Years," said Julie with a shrug. "And we missed doing that a midnight." She leaned in and kissed him. Will decided to just return it. It felt good to be in Hawkins and interact with someone outside of the party. Why should he just wait around for his friends?

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"Hopper's gonna kill me if he finds out," said Mike as he pulled El closer. She sighed in contentment, finally fully understanding what Max had meant when she told her about 'good screams.'

"I won't tell him. Will won't either. _Will!_" El suddenly sat up panicked. "We left him alone! How long has he been alone?"

Mike sat up, equally panicked. "Shit! We have to find him." They got dressed and left the closet they were in. Mike desperately searched the crowd that had thinned since midnight, but couldn't find Will. He saw Jennifer Hayes talking to a group of honors students.

"Jennifer, have you seen Will? We can't find him," said Mike.

"You can't find Will?" asked Lucas as he and Max joined the group. "Did you ditch him again or something?"

"You ditched him too," said Mike angrily.

"He was still with you when we left," said Lucas. "We didn't leave him alone."

"He doesn't need a babysitter," said Jennifer as she rolled her eyes.

"Do you know where he is?" asked El patiently.

"He was talking with Julie the last time I saw him," said Jennifer.

"Do you know where they are now?" asked Max.

"I have an idea," said Jennifer. "But Will seemed pretty upset, maybe he wants to be alone."

"Jennifer, please," Mike begged. "We need to find him."

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"Are you okay?" asked Will as he and Julie got dressed. She nodded.

"I'm fine. I've just never done that before. Have you?" Will shook his head. "I mean, I like you a lot and all, but I wasn't planning on that happening tonight... or this morning I mean."

"Me neither," said Will as he tied his shoes.

Julie pulled her sweater over her head. "Could I call or write you sometime? I'd like to keep in touch and talk more than we did while you lived here."

"Sure," said Will. "I'd like to have someone outside of my old party to talk to in Hawkins."

Julie grabbed a pen and ripped out a piece of paper from a notebook in a box. Will wrote his phone number and new address. "I'm not going to be at this address for a couple of weeks, so..."

"You're moving again?" asked Julie.

"Yeah, to a different house. It's a long story, but I'll tell you about it later," said Will as he handed her the piece of paper.

"Okay," said Julie. She stuffed the piece of paper in her pocket, then leaned in and kissed him again. They were both startled by the sudden loud banging on the attic door.

"WILL!" cam Mike's panicked voice. "Will, are you in there? WILL!"

Will covered his ears, then glanced at Julie. "I guess he suddenly realized he ditched me again and freaked out." Will stood up and helped Julie to her feet. They brushed some of the dust off of their clothes.

He opened the door to see Mike, El, Max, and Lucas standing there. "What the hell, Will. You can't just disappear like that," said Mike angrily.

"Mike!" said El. "He didn't just disappear."

"Yes he did," said Mike. "He always does this. He knows he's supposed to-"

"I'm supposed to what, Mike?" asked Will angrily. "Sit there like a good little boy and wait until you want to hang out with me?"

The color drained from Mike's face. "No that's not what I meant, Will. I-"

"Just save it, Mike. I'm not in the mood," said Will. He took Julie's hand and pushed past Mike and Lucas.

"Will, wait," said Mike. "Jonathan's going to be here soon to pick us up."

"So come and get me when he's here," said Will.

"Shit!" said Mike. He started to go after Will, but Lucas grabbed his arm.

"Maybe Dustin's right," said Lucas. "Let him cool off."

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The next morning, Will was woken up by some loud music from Mike's cassette player. He suppressed a groan, knowing exactly what that music meant. His friends had planned a surprise D&D campaign for him.

"Wake up, the villagers are in danger and only Will the Wise can save them," said Mike as he shook Will's shoulder.

Will was tempted to tell Mike that Will the Wise died the day that he and Lucas had mocked Will's campaign, but decided against it. If he did the campaign, it would be one less thing the other party members felt he owed them.

Will kept his eyes shut and muttered: "Mind if I take a shower first?"

Will went up to the bathroom and became writing down the details of his dream. He'd started keeping a dream journal right before Christmas. The answer to defeating the Mind Flayer once and for all had to be somewhere in his subconscious. Keeping a dream journal was the most solid plan Will had for getting to the bottom of things.

When he finished recording his dream in detail and taking his shower, he went back down stairs to see El and Max putting their coats back on. He quickly stuffed his dream journal back into his backpack before anyone could see. "Where are you two going? he asked Max and El.

"New Year's Day party with some girls at school," said Max.

"It's just going to be the four of us," said Mike.

'Why?" asked Will who glanced at El and noticed that she didn't exactly look thrilled about going to the party.

"Because we haven't had a campaign with just the party members in a really long time," said Mike.

"El and Max are party members," said Will.

"Fine, just the guys," said Lucas. "A day free of girls. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Will wanted to retort that Max and El had never been the problem, but didn't feel like arguing. He merely shrugged and gave an apologetic look to the girls before they left.

His heart wasn't in the campaign. In the past, nothing would have made Will happier than having a D&D campaign, just the four of them. That particular campaign was just a reminder of all the times his friend hadn't been interested in playing during Will's last year in Hawkins.

Two hours into the campaign, Mike read from his campaign binder that a giant wolf spider was crossing their path.

"Will, what's your action?" asked Mike.

"Fireball him," said Lucas.

"Cast protection," said Dustin.

"FIREBALL!"

PROTECTION!"

Dustin and Lucas argued back and forth. The last time they had argued like that, Will had ended up almost dying in the Upside Down. Will put down his head and began tremble at the memory.

"Are you okay?" asked Mike.

"I'm fine," said Will. "I'd just like a minute to figure out my move and then I'd like to make up my own mind for once."

"Yeah, yeah, sure," said Dustin.

"Sorry, we just got a little carried away," said Lucas.

"Forget about it," said Will as he picked up the dice. "I cast firestorm."

"That's too risky," said Lucas. "We don't have enough points."

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," said Will. "I cast firestorm." He tossed the dice. It was a 12.

"We can just pretend that didn't happen," said Mike. "Go ahead and make a different move."

"That would be cheating," said Will. "And I knew the risks. I'm dead." Will got up, walked over to the sofa, and pulled out one of his textbooks. He sat down and began working on an assignment that wasn't due for another month.

Lucas, Dustin, and Mike all stood up and walked over to him. "What are you doing?" asked Dustin.

"Homework," said Will. "Don't you guys have a campaign to finish?"

"Haven't you done enough homework?" asked Lucas. "Are you ever going to get over that pop quiz Gurskie gave?" He added with a chuckle. Mike and Dustin joined in. Will froze and stopped writing mid sentence. They all stopped laughing.

"It was always funny to you three wasn't it?" asked Will. "The fact that I studied really hard? Well, excuse me, but I need the best grades I can get if I'm ever going to go to college because I don't have a dad that makes a ton of money and my mom has to work for a living. Oh, and there's the ever present possibility of falling behind for Upside Down related reasons."

"Will, we're sorry," said Lucas. "We didn't mean anything by it."

"Of course not, you never meant anything by it," said Will as he continued to write. "Now, I'm going to finish this homework and you guys are going to finish that campaign."

"We'll finish the campaign when you come back and make a real move," said Mike.

"I made a real move and Will the Wise is dead," said Will.

"DO IT OVER!" Mike shouted angrily startling Lucas and Dustin.

"NO!" Will shouted angrily back. "STOP ORDERING ME AROUND!"

He stood up and stuffed his book into his backpack then grabbed his coat, scarf and hat.

"Where are you going?" asked Dustin.

"For a walk, I need some fresh air," said Will.

"Will, you can't leave, it's freezing," Mike protested.

"I can do whatever I want," said Will.

"What is going on down there?" asked Karen as she opened the door at the top of the stairs.

"Nothing, Mom," said Mike.

"What was all that shouting?" asked Karen.

"Nothing, just an argument over a move," said Mike.

Will took advantage of the distraction and slipped out the back door. He ran into the woods and ducked behind a tree.

"Where's Will?" asked Dustin.

"He must have slipped out," said Lucas.

"So let's go find him. He can't have gone far in this weather," said Mike as he grabbed his coat.

"Maybe we should call El, she could probably find him," said Dustin.

"Her powers aren't that strong yet, and I'm not telling my girlfriend that we lost her brother," said Mike. "now let's go find Will before he freezes to death."

Lucas and Dustin quickly followed Mike out of the basement.

"There's his footprints," said Lucas,

"Alright, let's follow them," said Mike. "WILL!"

"WILL!" Lucas and Dustin both echoed. Will was only a short distance away. He covered his ears at the sound of them calling his name. He wanted to stay hidden, so he closed his eyes and focused on his desire to not be seen by them. A minute later, they walked right past Will, still desperately calling his name. He looked up in astonishment as they walked past without noticing he was there.

Will felt slightly dizzy and his nose felt strange. He reached up and brushed his fingers under his nostrils. Blood.

"There aren't anymore foot prints," Will heard Dustin saying. "He must have turned down another path, c'mon!"

Will scrambled to his feet and headed down another path. Of course, he was leaving footprints that his friends could easily follow. He heard them catching up to him. His desire to remain hidden became even stronger. Will let out a yell of frustration as he threw his arm forward. He felt some sort of strange surge through his body. Suddenly there was an odd swirl in front of him, then a opening out of thin air. Will saw the remains of Castle Byers right in front of him even though it was three miles away.

"WILL!" Mike's voice called from behind him, startling Will out of his trance. They weren't visible yet, but they were getting close. Will made a snap decision and stepped through the portal he'd created. He closed his eyes and made a closing motion with his hand. When he opened his eyes again, the portal was gone and he no longer heard his friends calling his name.

Will breathed a sigh of relief and sank to the ground. He saw Chester's grave and felt some tears prick his eyes. Even though Chester was dead, it had felt wrong leaving him in Hawkins. Will pulled some tissue out of his backpack and wiped his nose.

"Will?" Will turned around and saw Randy, the kid he'd met at the party the night before standing behind him.

"Hey, Randy," said Will.

"Are you okay? It looks like you're bleeding."

"Oh, yeah, I just tripped and bumped into a tree. I had a fight with my friends and wanted to be alone."

"Oh," said Randy. "Well, it's freezing out here. Why don't you come inside for a while. My Mom just made some soup."

Will followed Randy without protest. He was cold after all and didn't know where else he was going to hide.

Will stared at his old house as they approached. He thought he'd never enter it again. The smell of the soup Randy's mother was cooking filled the room. The furniture was different, but the paint and wallpaper were the same. A woman came out of the kitchen. She was obviously Randy's mother.

"Hey, Mom," said Randy. "This is Will Byers."

"Oh," said Mrs. Burns. "I met your mother when we closed on this house. She's very nice. You look like her."

"Yeah, I've been told that," said Will.

"What are you doing here? Is everything alright?" asked Mrs. Burns.

"Yeah," said Will. "It met Randy at Jennifer Hayes' party last night and just dropped by to say hi."

"Well that was nice of you. Why don't you stay for lunch?"

"Sure, thanks," said Will.

"It's still going to be another half hour. Make yourself at home."

Randy was staying in Will's old room. He had several records and movie posters in his room.

"You like Bowie?" Will asked as he noticed the poster next to Queen and Elton John.

"Yeah. He's weird in an awesome way, you know?"

"Yeah," said Will. "My brother Jonathan would approve of our old house's new owners. So what brought you to Hawkins?"

Randy took a deep breath. He looked at Will as though he was considering him carefully.

"Sorry," said Will. "I didn't mean to pry."

"It's okay," said Randy. "It's just, my dad found out something about me and kicked me out, so my mom left him and we moved here."

"That sucks," said Will. "And I thought my dad was an asshole."

"I've heard he is," said Randy.

"What else have you heard about my family?" asked Will. "We were kinda the town freaks."

"Most of the stuff I believe, I heard from your friends. They were right, you're pretty cool."

"Thanks," said Will. "Do you hang out with them?"

"No," said Randy. "Like I said last night, I think Mike especially kind of resents the fact that I live in your old house and use your old locker."

"Sorry about that," said Will. "Mike's a good guy, but when he's upset about something... He sometimes takes it out on people who don't deserve it."

"I'm used to that kind of stuff," said Randy.

"You shouldn't have to be," said Will.

"This might seem weird," said Randy. "But do you think we could keep in touch. I haven't exactly made friends here and you're the first person I've actually felt comfortable talking to."

"Yeah, sure," said Will. Two people in the past 24 hours had asked to keep in touch with him. That made Will realize more than ever that he had spent too long relying on the other party members and being too shy to get to know anyone outside of the party.

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"Mike, we have to call El. There was blood on the ground," said Dustin.

"Maybe it wasn't Will's," said Mike as though he was trying to convince himself.

"Maybe what wasn't Will's?" asked Jonathan as he came into the basement followed by Nancy. "Where is Will?"

"We got into a fight and he ran off," said Dustin. "We can't find him. Can you go pick up El at Sally Johnson's house? She can find him."

"I'll be right back," said Jonathan.

"What if something happened to him?" asked Lucas. "What if they have him?"

"Don't say that!" said Mike. "They can't have him, they just can't."

"How else would you explain the blood and his footprints suddenly stopping?" asked Lucas.

"We didn't see any other foot prints," said Dustin. "And Will's always been really good at hiding."

A few minutes later, Jonathan and Nancy returned with El and Max. Without saying a word, El grabbed a makeshift blindfold and turned on the radio to a static frequency. Everyone was quiet as she focused. Oddly, not a drop of blood had trickled from her nose when she pulled off the blindfold.

"I found him. Let's go, Jonathan," said El.

"I'll come with you," said Mike. El shook her head. "El, he's my best friend."

"He's my brother," said El.

"I've known him longer," Mike protested. "I can help. I have to help."

"Mike," said El more firmly. "He's my brother."

Mike sank into his chair. How had things gotten so bad and why couldn't he manage to fix them?

XXXXXXXxx

A few minutes later, Jonathan and El pulled up to their old home. "It feels weird to have to knock on the door," said Jonathan.

"Yeah, weird," said El as Jonathan knocked. A woman about their mother's age answered the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're looking for our brother, Will. Is he here?" asked Jonathan. The woman smiled and nodded.

"Come on in," she said. Will was sitting in the living room talking to a boy about his age. He looked up to see El and Jonathan and stood up. They ran over and hugged him. He returned their hugs.

"We'll give you a minute. C'mon, Randy," said Mrs. Burns. They left the living room and went into Jonathan's old bedroom.

"What happened, why did you disappear like that, Bud?" asked Jonathan.

"Sorry," said Will. "That stupid campaign just brought back a lot of bad memories. It reminded me why I didn't want to come here."

"We can just go home today if you want," said Jonathan.

"No," said Will. "I can wait until tomorrow. I'll be fine. I just need to say something to the other party members."

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When the Byers siblings got back to the Wheeler house, Will said he was tired and wanted to sleep. He told Mike and El to just spend time together since they (Will, El, and Jonathan) were heading back to Pawnee the next day.

"Sorry," said Mike to El as they sat alone later that evening. They kept their voices down as Will was sleeping in the corner. "I should have called you right away when Will went missing."

"It's okay," said El. "He was safe."

"Something could have happened to him though," said Mike. "Plenty of things have happened to him before. It was my fault he ran off too. I just keep trying to make things right with him and I just make them worse."

"Mike, Will made his own decision to run off. He can make up his own mind. You have to let him do that like you used to."

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The next morning as the Byers siblings were getting ready to leave, Will walked over to the other party members. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure," said Lucas. He turned to El and Max. "Can you two give us a minute?"

"No, they can stay," said Will firmly. "I _want _them to stay." Max smiled at him. She had always been annoyed with the boys club aspect of the party.

"What is it?" asked Mike.

"There are things I need to say and I need you all to listen and hear me. Understand?"

"Yeah," said Dustin. "Go ahead, what do you want to say?"

"I'm not an equal member of this party. I never have been," said Will.

"How can you say that?" asked Mike. Will held up his hand and shot Mike a warning look. He saw El holding her finger to her lips. They had very quickly started to stick up for each other within the group: the way that Mike used to stand up for each of them.

"I can say it because it's true," said Will. "Maybe it's because I was always poor or maybe it's because I was the biggest freak in the group, but I was never an equal member. I was the one who always had to sit in the back of the cars when there weren't enough seats. I wasn't allowed to speak my mind as much as the rest of you, and you guys constantly left me behind without even realizing it. I was constantly afraid I'd be kicked out of the party if I did or said the wrong thing."

Mike wanted to tell Will that he was wrong, but he remembered the night that Will had first disappeared to the Upside Down. Will had hung back to tell Mike that his roll had only been a 7 because he was afraid to tell him in front of Dustin and Lucas. It hadn't been the first or the last time.

"C'mon, Will," said Lucas. "We were never going to kick you out, you were the best of all of us."

"Because I had to be," said Will.

"What does that even mean?" asked Mike.

"Exactly what it sounds like," said Will. "You guys blamed me the year we came in third in the science fair. Lucas was always pissed at me if I made the wrong move in D&D- way more that he ever was at Dustin or Mike."

"Will, I'm sorry," said Lucas.

"I know, and it doesn't matter anymore, I just need you to understand," said Will. "When Mike was mad about Max coming trick-or- treating with us that night, he took it out on me even though all I did was say it was okay. You took it out on me, then left me behind, Mike."

"Will, I'm sorry, I was just-" Mike began.

"You were just going through a rough time; but face it: you get mad at me whenever I was having a good time that year. You were Mr. Caring if I had an episode or was upset; but if I was happy you couldn't stand it. You resented me for coming back from the Upside Down when El had vanished."

El glanced between Mike and Will. She wanted to say something-anything. She had seen how much Mike cared about Will. She had seen how much they all cared about him. She hated seeing their friendship so strained. She looked over to see Max staring at the floor as though remembering something painful.

"Will, we don't see you as a lesser member of the party, we never have," said Lucas. "You've always been through a lot more than any of us and sometimes that makes things seem worse than they are. We risked everything to save you from the Upside Down."

"Yeah and because of that, I should just put up with you guys lashing out at me when you've had bad days because I should be grateful." said Will. Lucas froze. "Yeah, I heard that when you said it." Will had been referring to a conversation he'd overheard between Mike and Lucas a couple months after he'd come back from the Upside Down. Mike had lost his temper and lashed out at Will. He had felt bad after Will left the room and Lucas had told Mike that Will would get over it because it was Will...

"They didn't mean anything by it," said Dustin. "It had been a rough week with and the school work and-"

"We've all had a lot of rough weeks, but you guys always took it out more on me when I didn't even do anything wrong," said Will. "Even you, Dustin."

"When have I ever?" asked Dustin.

"How about the night you got back from camp?" asked Will. "I didn't ditch you before we ever started building the tower-" Will indicated Mike and El. "I didn't laugh at the idea of you having a girlfriend or call you a liar-" Will indicated Lucas and Max. "All I did was go home because it was late and I was tired, but you were just as pissed at me as you were at everyone else and I didn't do anything wrong. But in this group I'm not allowed to go home because I'm tired, mess up on a science experiment, make a wrong D&D move, or not come to Hawkins because I don't feel like it; because I _owe _it to the group."

Mike felt his stomach drop as he remembered using the word "Owe" with Will when trying to get home to go to Hawkins for New Years.

"Why didn't you every say anything?" asked Lucas.

"Because I was always scared to say anything," said Will. "But I'm not scared anymore and I'm saying now. The truth is though, that this whole mess is partly my fault. I completely and utterly relied on you guys for years. That wasn't fair to you and I shouldn't have done that."

"What do you mean, Will?" asked Mike. "We're your friends. You're supposed to be able to rely on us."

Will shook his head. "I'm not supposed to be dependent on you and I was. Things were changing. Maybe if I had changed, I wouldn't feel as angry as I do about everything. I should have tried to get to know people outside of the party/ I should have just tried new things and I would have been a lot happier. But I kept trying to cling to the past and the way things were before I got stuck in the Upside Down. That just made me miserable."

"Will, we just want to make things right. What can we do for you?" asked Mike.

"You really want to do something for me?" asked Will.

"Yes, of course we do," said Mike.

"Randy Burns, the kid who moved into my old house: be nice to him. He could use some friends and he's really nice. All those times you took your frustration about El being missing out on me, I at least knew what you were going through. Randy, on the other hand, has no idea. Keep that in mind before you go off on him again, Mike. He didn't ask for the things that have happened to him." Mike stared at his feet.

"There is one more thing," said Will.

"What's that?" asked Mike.

"Sometimes I'm not going to want to come to Hawkins when El and Jonathan visit. If I say I don't want to come, don't try to guilt or nag me into coming. Just respect my decision."

XXXXX

Okay, that was a long chappie. There will be some major Will-El sibling stuff in the next chapter


	7. Chapter 7 Mind Puzzle Pieces

Chapter 7 Mind Puzzle Pieces

"I was alone before Will came into my life, El. Alone and scared. Terrified even," said Mike as he and El sat in his room. "He means the world to me and he doesn't believe that anymore. Every time I try to convince him, I do something stupid. I lose my temper over stupid things."

"I know you care," said El. "I saw you push Troy when he called Will a fairy and the only time you were ever mad at me when you thought I had lied about Will being alive."

Mike cringed at the memory of berating El over her supposedly lying about Will being alive. She had calmly taken it until she found a way to show Mike what she couldn't express in words. She had taken his temper as calmly as Will used to. Like Will, there was pain in her eyes. They were a lot alike.

"I'm sorry about that," said Mike. "I should have known."

"You couldn't have known," said El. "Papa made a very convincing fake body. I knew it was fake. I knew Will was alive, but had to show you." She remembered the feeling of desperation she had, knowing that Will was still alive and in danger from the demogorgan and Hawkins Lab. She had known that she somehow had to convince the others.

"I still regret it though."

"I'll talk to Will," said El. "But I'm going to give him time. People need to be patient with him."

"I know," said Mike with a sigh. El leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Mike wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. He didn't know when he'd be able to see her again. His 16th birthday was a month away and he'd be able to drive soon. They'd be going to college in a couple years and could go to the same school if they wanted.

Mike remembered when he and Will planned to go to the same school and design video games together. He wondered if Will still wanted to do that. He remembered how they used to escape to their own imaginations together when they were little. Will was always better at drawing and writing, but his stories and pictures had always brought comfort to Mike. They hadn't really discussed their career plans in a couple years. Will had tried a couple times after recovering from the Mind Flayer possession, but Mike had brushed him off to spend time with El. After a while Will stopped bringing up the topic.

Mike internally cursed himself for not seeing that Will had been trying to ask for help when he wanted to play D&D or talk about their stories. Mike himself had found comfort in those things when he'd been through a lot less than Will.

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Will was eager to get home. He knew that the answer to defeating the Mind Flayer and the threat of the Upside Down was somewhere in his mind. He just had to figure out how to unlock that secret. He and El were working together and he knew they could figure it out. He had discovered two abilities the day before and he wanted to tell his sister and perhaps Sarah and Jane as well.

"Ready to go?" asked Jonathan. Will looked up to see Mike and El coming down the stairs. El looked at Will.

"Yes," she said.

"Can I talk to Will alone for a minute before you go?" asked Mike. Jonathan glanced at Will who shrugged before following Mike into the Wheeler's den. He silently waited for Mike to speak.

"Look, I'm sorry about making you come here when you told me you didn't want to come and I shouldn't have said you owe us. You don't owe us anything Will," said Mike.

"Thanks," said Will.

"I know that I keep screwing things up, but it just sucks that you aren't here anymore. The truth is that I'm miserable without you here."

Will made a skeptical noise.

"It's true, Will."

Will shook his head. "It's not my absence that's making you so miserable, Mike. It's El's."

"Of course I'm miserable without El here, Will, but I miss you too."

"We both know that if Hopper hadn't disappeared and it had been just me that moved away, you wouldn't be miserable. I'm sure you'd miss me, but you wouldn't be miserable like you are now."

Mike sighed. "Can I ask you something?" Will nodded.

"We saw blood in the snow yesterday. What happened to you?"

"Just a bloody nose," said Will.

"Are you sure that's all it was?"

"Do you see any cuts or bruises on me?"

"No, it's just that the blood was where your foot prints ended... Holy shit, did you-?"

"Don't ask, Mike. Don't even finish that thought," said Will. He looked frightened.

"But-"

"Mike, don't! Please!"

"Okay, I won't," said Mike. He stepped forward and pulled Will into a hug. He realized why Will's foot prints had suddenly stopped. He had used his powers, whatever they were.

"Don't try to get involved in this Mike. Keep Lucas, Max and Dustin out too. I don't want anything to happen to any of you," said Will as he returned Mike's hug. It was the first real hug they'd shared in a long time. It gave Mike a little hope because it showed that Will still did care about the party. He also felt a sense of dread as he realized that Will and El were going to try something dangerous,

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"We're home!" Jonathan called as they entered their house. A lot of things were packed up. They were greeted by the dog that Will had been visiting at the shelter. She ran right up to him wagging her tail.

"Well, there goes your surprise, Will," said Hopper as he entered the hallway.

"Seriously?" asked Will as he knelt down and scratched behind the dog's ears.

"Well, pets are great stress relievers and you, kid, have been under a lot of stress."

"I'm not going to argue that," said Will.

"Good," said Hopper. "We're all going to be under a lot of stress until Brenner and his people are caught. No point in trying to hide it."

Joyce walked out into the hallway behind Hopper. She smiled at the sight of her children, walked up to them and managed to pull all three into a hug.

Sarah walked into the room carrying one of the kittens. When El was released from her mother's hug, Sarah handed the kitten to her.

"For me?" asked El as the kitten purred. Sarah nodded. She pulled a plastic husky out of her pocket and handed it to Jonathan.

"You aren't allowed to have real animals in your room, so we got you this," said Sarah.

"Thanks," said Jonathan. He pulled her into a one arm hug. She was okay for a moment, then saw a flayed Bruce nearly killing Jonathan, gasped and pulled away sobbing. "I'm sorry, Sarah."

"It's okay," said Sarah. "It's not your fault bad things happened to you."

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In early February, the Byers-Hopper family was living in their new house. Joyce and Hopper were working for Owens, studying patterns and trying to determine where attacks might happen next. Alice regularly visited the house to make sure it wasn't bugged. She also worked with Sarah to help her control her abilities.

Will decided that he needed to tell El about his abilities.. She came into his room one night as his dog, Charlotte, sat at the end of his bed while he studied.

"You have letters from both Randy and Julie," said El as she handed him the envelopes.

"Thanks," said Will. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What?" asked El.

"I think I've discovered a couple of my powers. I discovered them when I was hiding from the guys last month."

"That makes sense," said El. "I thought you must have when they couldn't find you."

"You did?" asked Will. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Was waiting for you to tell me when you were ready," said El.

"I'm sorry," said Will. "I shouldn't have waited this long."

"It's okay," said El. She leaned over and hugged him.

"We have to figure out how to stop them."

"We will," said El. "My powers are getting stronger again. I can help you with yours."

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A few weeks later, Jane paid them a visit. She'd been living with her mother and aunt: women than El had once believed were her own mother and aunt. Jane had taken a bus to Pawnee.

"How are you doing?" asked Will as he hugged her.

"Still just trying to figure things out," said Jane. "I think my mother recognizes me sometimes, that she knows I'm there."

El remembered something. She ran to her room and grabbed an old picture of Kali. She brought it back and showed it to Jane. "Do you know this girl?" she asked.

Jane studied the picture. "There's something familiar about her. Like she was someone I knew when I was really little or something."

"She's Kali," said El. "She was number 8. I went and found her when I thought I was you. She's trying to find Papa. I haven't been able to find her because my powers are still coming back, but maybe you can find her. Maybe she can help us."

"When did you do that?" asked Will.

"When you were at the lab after you got Hopper out of the tunnel and couldn't remember anything," said El.

"Oh," said Will. "I could remember...I just... just wasn't in control."

"Do you really think she could help us?" asked Jane.

"Yes," said El.

"Then give me that picture and a radio."

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"Wait!" said Will as Jane grabbed her coat after locating Kali.

"Will, I have to get moving. The longer Brenner is out there, the more danger we're all in."

"Just, don't go alone. You've been caught before and he completely changed your memories. We can call Alice and she can go with you."

"Isn't she supposed to be watching over you two?" asked Jane. "And helping Sarah?"

"If she protects you, She protects all of us," said Will.

"Fine," said Jane.

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Sneaking Kali into the Byers home was no small feat as she was a wanted fugitive.

"I don't think I've met a boy your age with gifts," said Kali as she walked up to Will and gave him an appraising look. "They usually die in the lab. You're very lucky."

"Did all the boys die?" asked El.

"All the ones I knew did," said Kali. "So this thing, this Mind Flayer, it possessed you, Will?"

"Yeah," said Will.

"And you think the answer to defeating it is somewhere in your subconscious?"

"Yes, it has to be," said Will.

"I've tried to go into his mind, but my powers aren't strong enough yet," said El.

"It's not your powers," said Kali. "It's because he's awake. His defenses are up."

"Why would I have defenses up against El?" asked Will.

"You're suppressing bad memories," said Kali. "At least part of your mind is. I think her looking into that part of your mind will work better if you're asleep."

"She's right," said Alice. "I should have thought of that."

"You didn't know what we were doing," said Will. "So how does this work? I've been keeping a dream journal."

"Any insights yet?" asked Alice.

"Not really," said Will.

"It'll still probably help," said Kali. "If you're already training your mind to remember your dreams, you can write down what you see when your sister goes into your mind. So it's important that no one bothers you after you wake up until you're done writing."

"This can't hurt Will, can it?" asked El.

"Have you hurt anyone before when you've done this?" asked Kali.

"No," said El. "But my powers were stronger. I don't have them all the way back yet."

"Then let me help," said Jane. "My powers are the same as yours. I can help you stay in control."

"I-I can help too," said Sarah.

"Sarah, you're probably going to see a lot of scary stuff. My mind...well it was taken over by the Mind Flayer a couple years ago."

"I need to start controlling my abilities and how I react to visions," said Sarah. "The more eyes we have on this, the better chance we have of figuring it all out. I'm tired of waiting for other people to take care of things."

Although Will was a little anxious about having three people looking into his mind, he did have to agree with Sarah. "Okay, are you guys ready?"

"Now?" asked El as Will grabbed a pen and his dream journal."

"Yes, Sarah's right. I'm tired of waiting. This has been going on way too long. Are you okay to do this, El?"

"Yes."

"How about you two? Jane? Sarah?"

"I'm ready," said Jane. "Let's figure out how to take these assholes down."

"Yeah, let's get our lives back," said Sarah.

"I can give Will a sedative to make him sleep," said Alice. "She pulled some needles out of her case."

"Hang on," said Sarah. She grabbed the needle from Alice and held it for a moment. "Okay. It's clear. Sorry, Alice. We can't take any chances. No offence."

"None taken," said Alice.

"I'll keep watch and create an illusion if anyone comes," said Kali.

"Great," said Will. Jane grabbed some blindfolds and turned on the radio to a static frequency. Will sat on his bed. Charlotte jumped up next to him and put her head on his knee. He watched her react to the others. She had been a little nervous around new people, but seemed okay with everyone in the room. That gave him some comfort that he was doing the right thing. He scratched behind her ear and she wagged her tail.

"Okay, Alice, give me the shot," said Will. El sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him. "It's going to be okay, El. We're taking control."

Alice injected the sedative into Will's arm. His eyes became unfocused and drifted shut. El cradled his head and lowered it to the pillow. She kissed his forehead and took a blindfold from Jane. She held Will's hand and she sat on the floor next to the bed. She saw Sarah take Will's other hand before she put on the blindfold and started to focus.

It was easier for her to go into Will's mind than it had to go into other people's minds. Part of her wished that Mike was there with them.

El found herself in the void. She spotted Will sitting in a corner staring ahead at nothing. His face showed a mixture of fear, sadness, and anger. She knew he'd been holding a lot of things in for a long time. She realized she may see those things and that his subconscious might resist.

"Will," said El. "Let me see, let me see what your mind saw."

Will shook his head. "He won't let you. It's not safe."

"He can't hurt us," said El. "Not if we're together."

Will looked up. There was a haunted look in his eyes. He slowly reached up and grabbed El's wrist; more gently than Terry Ives had and far more gently than Billy had. El felt herself slowly sinking into the ground.

Instead of seeing one of Will's memories, she saw one of her own. She was five years old. It was the first time Papa had locked her in the closet when her powers failed. She was terrified of the small dark room. She screamed and begged as she was dragged by two orderlies. The door closed and El watched as her five year old self was engulfed in total darkness.

She suddenly saw a five year old Will wake up in his room at their old house. He started crying and tried to stifle the noise. El heard Lonnie shouting from down the hall for Will to keep quiet. She heard Joyce angrily chastise Lonnie before coming into Will's room.

"What's wrong, Baby?" asked Joyce as she pulled Will into a hug and began to rock him.

"Don't know, Mommy, Don't know, I'm sorry!" Will sobbed.

"It's okay, Sweetie, it's okay," said Joyce. "I'm right here."

Jonathan soon came in and joined in the hug. Lonnie came and stood in the doorway. "You can't keep coddling them, Joyce. Will starts school soon. How is he ever going to learn to stand up for himself if you keep coddling him every time he cries like a little fag."

El felt a surge of anger at her birth father. She had heard things about him, but seeing one of those things made it worse.

"Jonathan, stay with your brother for a minute. I'll be right back," said Joyce. El heard her parents start to shout at each other before the scene faded.

Will was standing in the house when the latch on the front door opened by an invisible force. El suddenly had a flashback to herself using her powers to open the latch on the door of the Ives home, then the Byers home.

Will was in the shed as the demogorgan appeared behind him. It grabbed Will. He struggled and the demogorgan struggled to hang onto him. It threw its arm out and a tear opened to the Upside Down, both of them fell through it. Will managed to push the barrel of the gun at the demogorgan and shoot it point blank.

He stumbled, got to his feel and managed to get away from the monster.

El flashed to her initially making contact with the demogorgan, to seeing the door to the Byers home being unlatched.

She saw Will having episodes finding himself in the Upside Down. She saw him look up to see the Mind Flayer rising in the sky. El suddenly saw Papa opening the door to her room and coming up behind her and she clutched her stuffed lion in fear.

Suddenly Mike was jolting Will out of his episode, the Mike was suddenly jolting El out of her memory of being locked in a closet at the lab.

El saw the Mind Flayer surrounding Will and entering his body as he was unable to move. She saw Will drawing pictures of the tunnels that the Mind Flayer was digging under Pawnee. Then she saw herself flipping over Mike's D&D board to show Mike, Lucas and Dustin where Will was. She saw Will sitting next to Mike in the back seat of his mother's car. His eyes were closed and he was looking to see where Hopper was trapped. She then saw herself in Mike's basement sitting over the board concentrating the exact same way to find Will himself in the Upside Down.

El next saw Will trapped in his own mind struggling to regain control as the Mind Flayer spoke through him. Will fought as the Mind Flayer tried to get him to set a trap for the soldiers at the lab. The Mind Flayer advanced on him menacingly.

El saw Papa leading her to the sensory deprivation tank telling her to make contact with the demogorgan again even though her instincts told her it was wrong.

"LET ME GO!" Will screamed at the Mind Flayer as Hopper brought him to consciousness. The Mind Flayer surrounded Will's consciousness and began to suffocate him. "LET ME GO!" he screamed over and over again. In the shed the lights began to flicker rapidly until Hopper grabbed Will and held him until he calmed down and the Mind Flayer's grip on him relaxed.

Will was in a haze in his own mind. Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike were speaking to him, talking about memories. Will saw them all come into focus for just a few seconds as he started to gain control of his own body. Then the Mind Flayer slowly surrounded him again. "Let me go!" Will softly begged the shadow.

El remembered seeing that as it happened. She had just gotten off of the bus from Chicago and was on her way to save them from the Mind Flayer's army. She remembered feeling especially concerned about Will, then barely speaking to him in the following months.

In Will's memories, El saw the Mind Flayer standing menacingly over him. There was a silent threat over Will for him to not warn his friends of the danger. He couldn't speak. He knew the Mind Flayer understood spoken words. Maybe there was something it wouldn't understand. His friends had teased him when he memorized Morse Code, but perhaps now it would come in handy, maybe even save their lives. He focused on making his fingers tap out H-E-R-E.

Will managed to tap the words the Mind Flayer didn't want him to say out loud. C-L-O-S-E G-A-T-E. He was slowly gaining control of his own body until his house phone rang and Will realized he was in the shed behind his house. The Mind Flayer again began to suffocate Will's consciousness again until Joyce injected him with the sedative.

El next saw the Mind Flayer clinging to Will, practically strangling him as Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy burning it out of him. It brought back El's own vivid memory of the piece of the flayed mass clinging inside of her leg.

The memories became more blurry as Will woke up the morning after he was freed from the possession. Mike had told him he'd be there, but he was gone. Will walked out to his living room. Mike and El were sitting on the couch talking. He saw Jonathan and Nancy talking in Jonathan' room. His mother was in her own room crying over Bob as Hopper comforted her. Will quietly went back to his room, crawled under the covers and cried into his pillow. El found herself wishing that she and Mike had checked on him more that morning.

She saw Will react in fear as the Mind Flayer was reactivated. He said he was okay when Mike asked him. El's own memory of Kali putting a projection of Papa in her head surfaced.

She then saw Will ripping up pictures and drawings in Castle Byers months later, before destroying the fort with a baseball bat in the pouring rain before the hairs on the back of Will's neck stood up and the moment the Mind Flayer, through Billy's eyes, realized who El was. Another memory of the terror El felt whenever Papa approached her and she knew he was going to make her do something came to the front of her mind.

She saw Will waking from a nightmare. He went to see his mother, but she and El were already comforting each other over Hopper. Jonathan and Nancy were talking in his room. Will quietly went back to his own room and cried into his pillow.

El saw multiple memories of Will repeating the similar actions after they all moved to Pawnee. She remembered all the times he had said "What do I have to complain about?"

El saw Will sitting quietly whenever they visited Hawkins as Mike and El talked. Sometimes Will went to see Lucas or Dustin after Mike asked to be alone with El, Mike would get angry at him for leaving, El saw this repeat multiple times.

Finally, El saw Will leave with Josie (Jane) the night the group had built the surprise Lord of the Rings set for him as a Christmas present. She saw them getting taken by Brenner's people, then Will being thrown into the enclosure with the new demogorgan while Hopper shouted for it to stop.

El saw the portal opening. She had seen that Will was in danger when that happened, but hadn't seen the full event. She saw the demogorgan knocking Will out, then opening a portal to the Upside Down. She saw the sinister pleasure on Papa's face as a brief shadow of the Mind Flayer flashed in front of him. The memory of the flayed mass of the Mind Flayer reaching for El herself came to the front of her mind-

El, Will, Jane, and Sarah all jolted awake. Will sat up, grabbed his dream journal, and closed his eyes for a few moments before opening them and writing furiously. El saw Jane begin to do the same thing. She noticed that Jane's nose was bleeding, as was Sarah's. El ran her fingers under her own nose and saw that there was no blood.

Will put down his pen after ten minutes and Jane quickly followed. El felt queasy in her stomach and ran to the bathroom. Will was at her side in moment rubbing her back.

"Are you alright, El?" he asked. "Did you hurt yourself going into my mind."

"No," said El. "My nose didn't even bleed. I just have a stomach ache."

"I'll get you some ginger ale and you can lay down for a bit," said Will. He helped her to her feet and led her to her room. He then ran to the kitchen and brought her a can of ginger ale.

El took the drink and started sobbing. Will pulled her into a hug. "Seeing some of my memories seemed to bring back some of your own memories," said Will.

"Yes," said El. "But that's not why I'm upset."

"What's wrong?" asked Will.

"It's my fault!" El sobbed.

"None of this is your fault," said Will. "It's Brenner, it's the Mind Flayer..." he trailed off.

"Not that," said El. "It's my fault you've been so sad."

"What?"

"You needed help too, but you didn't get help because everyone was so focused on me."

"El, you had been through way more than I ever went through."

"But you still went through a lot and needed help," said El. "Promise me you'll ask for help if you need it, Will. Promise me you'll stop thinking that you don't matter."

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AN: I can see why some people think that this is a Mike- bashing fic, but it isn't. He's one of my favorite characters, as is Hopper even if they both slipped a couple of notches in season 3 for me. I realize that Mike is 14 and in luuuuve. The thing is that his actions still affect people. A lot if this fic is more of a reaction to other fics rather than the actual show. There are a lot of fics where Mike is super in love with El and treats Will like crap- he's an outright a-hole to Will in a lot of those fics. The thing is, treating his friend like that would affect that friend, who has been through way more than Mike has ever been through. We do see Mike and Lucas running after Will after the whole D&D incident, but once they begin focusing on the Mind Flayer, we don't really see Mike and Will fixing their friendship or Mike making an effort. We only see Lucas making an effort with Will. To Mike's credit, he does admit to El that he was wrong to try to keep her all to himself. Hopefully, we see Hopper admit to El that he was wrong to make Mike lie to her and admit to Joyce that he was wrong to try to push her into a relationship when she was still mourning Bob just because he panicked when he found out she was moving.


	8. Chapter 8 Constant Manipulation

Chapter 8 Constant Manipulation

"Randy, c'mon, the A.V. club meeting starts in ten minutes," said Mike. It had been over two months since New Years and Mike had finally talked Randy into joining a club. He'd been anxious about accepting Mike's offer of friendship after a year and a half of Mike subconsciously resenting him for living in Will's old house and using Will's old locker.

"I'm coming," said Randy as he stuffed a copy of the book for the spring play in his book bag.

"I can help you practice your lines for the audition if you want," Mike offered earnestly.

"Um, sure, thanks," said Randy. He seemed almost as hesitant to accept nice gestures from Mike as Will had become.

"Did you finally find a replacement for your zombie queer buddy?" asked Troy as he walked up to Mike and Randy.

"Shut up, Troy," Mike hissed. Randy's face went pale. He had confided in Mike that he and his mother had moved to Hawkins because his father had kicked him out. He had never explicitly told Mike why, but Mike had his suspicions.

"Oooohh, did I touch a nerve, Frog Face?" asked Troy. "It was sure easy to touch nerves with the fairy before he left town." Mike felt his face growing redder and redder. Troy started to shove Mike's shoulder with every sentence. "He would just cover his ears and cry when I called him out for the freak he was in those last few months before summer. Don't worry, I'm sure that even though he didn't die like he should have three years ago, I'm sure some queer'll get him in his new town."

Mike dropped his books and charged Troy harder that he ever had before. They crashed to the floor and slid into the lockers on the other side of the narrow hall. Mike began punching Troy as hard as he could before the larger boy got over the initial shock and began hitting Mike back as surrounding students began chanting "'fight! fight! fight!"

It went on for about two minutes before Mike felt someone shove Troy off of him. He looked up to see Troy's fist collide with Lucas' face. Max angrily hit Troy with her skateboard before Principal Jenkins came down the hall and broke up the fight.

Later that night, Mike sat alone in his basement looking over some old drawings Will had done when they were little. Mike had gotten a week's suspension for his troubles. There was a knock at the door. It wasn't Lucas or Dustin, both were grounded. It was Max.

"Oh, hey Max. What are you doing here?" asked Mike.

"Checking on you. I promised El I'd always make sure you're alright, you know," said Max.

"You did?" asked Mike.

"Yep."

"How did you get out of the house?"

"Neil isn't home this week," said Max. "It wasn't that hard." She fidgeted a little. "Troy said something shitty about Will, didn't he?"

"How'd you know?"

"El and Lucas have both told me about the time she made Troy piss himself. It wasn't a huge leap."

"Apparently he was harassing Will a lot after the whole thing with the Mind Flayer," said Mike. "Will didn't say anything. He just kept trying to get us to do something fun together as a group. We just kept blowing him off. *I* just kept blowing him off. No wonder he thought we didn't care. No wonder he doesn't like to do the things he loved so much as a kid. It didn't even occur to me until recently. It's his birthday in less than two weeks and I don't even know what to get him because I have no idea what he likes anymore."

"El said that he's super into Bowie and U2. Oh and New Order and Van Halen too."

"I guess he still likes the stuff he did with Jonathan," said Mike sourly.

"Maybe he still likes all the things he did with the party deep down," said Max. "Sometimes people just-"

"Don't say people just grow apart!" said Mike. "I'm so sick of everyone telling me that. Will and I were different."

"I wasn't going to say that Mike," said Max. "I was going to say that sometimes people just need to come to things on their own terms. Will kept saying that he wanted to do things on his terms for once at Christmas. Things haven't exactly been on his terms for most of his life."

"No," said Mike, as he realized that Will had been right when he said that he hadn't gotten his way very much when it came to the party. "No they haven't."

"Maybe you should tell him about how you beat the shit out of Troy?" Max suggested. "It shows that you really do still care."

"No," said Mike. "If I tell him, it'll just seem like I'm trying to convince him I still care. That only makes him more guarded."

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"Hopper, you shouldn't keep trying to hide this from the kids," said Joyce. "They'll understand and want to help."

"They have more than their fair share of trauma to deal with," said Hopper. "They don't need mine too."

"You sound like Will," said Joyce. "All that bottling things up hasn't ever done him much good either."

"Fine, I won't bottle it up, Joyce," said Hopper. "I just want us all to have our lives back, but I constantly feel like they're always watching and trying to manipulate us."

"So let's get to work," said Joyce as she held up the files.

"Let's get to work," Hopper agreed.

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Julie slammed her bedroom door and threw herself on her bed as she sobbed into her pillow. Her cat jumped to her side and started purring. Her mother opened the door a few seconds later.

"Julie, this is for the best."

"I don't want to do this, please don't make me do this," Julie begged as she sat up to face her mother.

"Honey, you're too young to be a mother. You've got a bright future ahead of you and your baby will be better off with the Olsens."

"I don't trust them," said Julie. "There's something weird about them and not the good kind of weird." She saw the old Tonka truck Will had given her out of the corner of her eye.

"You're just upset," said Mrs. Mason. "This is for the best in the long run. You'll understand that someday."

Julie knew her parents weren't going to change their minds and she had a bad feeling about the whole situation. She decided to play along, but had to contact Will and get to him somehow.

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El stared at the plus sign as Sarah sat next to her. She'd been feeling sick and throwing up a lot. Sarah has patted her on the back to comfort her and sensed something new.

El felt her stomach drop. What was she going to do? How would she tell Mike? How could she protect her baby from Papa and the Upside Down. El glanced at Sara who looked equally frightened.

"WILL!" El screamed. Will had been in the basement with Alice practicing his abilities. El had seen the lights flicker in the house several times.

Will came running up followed by Alice.

"El, are you alright? What's wrong?"

El silently held up her positive test. Will looked stunned. He glanced at Sarah who nodded. Will walked over to and pulled her into a tight embrace as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"It was him," said Sarah. "He made Mike and El... at that party you were at in Hawkins. He had people hand them drinks with something in it."

"Brenner?" asked Will. Sarah nodded. Will remembered Hopper telling him something when they were escaping from Brenner in December. Brenner wanted more test subjects.

The phone started ringing. "Alice, can you answer that?" asked Will. "If it's Mom, she'll have a heart attack if we don't answer."

Alice went down the hall and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, um, I need to talk to Will," said the voice on the other end.

"He's a little busy right now. Can I take a message?" said Alice.

"Please, it's an emergency!" Alice had a vision of the girl on the other end of the line.

"What's your name?"

"Julie."

"Hang on a minute, Julie. I'll get Will."

"Thank you," said Julie. Alice could hear that she was trying not to cry. She set down the phone and walked back to the bathroom when Will and Sarah were comforting El.

"It's for you, Will," said Alice.

"Can you tell them I'll call them back?" asked Will as El continued to sob on his shoulder.

"Normally I would," said Alice. "But you should take this one. It's a girl named Julie."

El glanced at Alice and saw the look on her face. She realized that Papa's people hadn't just manipulated her and Mike that night. "It's-it's okay, Will. Take the call."

Will stood up slowly and headed down the hall to pick up the phone. "Julie?"

"Will? Something happened. New years... When we...Will I'm pregnant... and... and.. my parents are making me give the baby up for adoption... I met the people today... I don't like them...I just have a bad feeling," Julie sobbed as she spoke.

Will leaned against the wall and slid down it. Now one more person had been dragged into everything. He'd tried to keep his friends in Hawkins out of it all, not wanting them to end up like Bob. Now Mike was being dragged back into it and a girl he'd once given a Tonka truck to was dragged into it as well.

He realized that Julie was in danger. Her baby and El's baby were in danger. He couldn't let Brenner get his hands on them.

"Julie, are you calling me from home?"

"No, I got a bunch of change and called you from a pay phone," said Julie. "I haven't told my family that the baby's yours yet."

Will breathed a sigh of relief. "Listen, is there any time in the next couple days that you'll be at home alone?"

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Mike sat alone with his sister Holly. He was watching her while his parents were at an office party and working on a puzzle with her. The phone rang. Mike didn't feel like speaking to anyone, but answered the phone in case it was his mother checking on Holly.

"Hello?"

"Mike?"

"Will?"

"Yeah."

"What is it? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, listen... Can you drive to Pawnee? El needs to see you," said Will. Mike recognized the anxiousness in Will's voice.

"Yeah, I can do that, when?"

"As soon as possible," said Will. "And I need to ask a favor."

"Of course, Will, anything," said Mike who had been so eager to prove to Will that he was still there for him.

"I need you to pick up Julie Mason and bring her with you."

"What?"

"Mike, can you do that for me?" asked Will anxiously.

"Yeah, yeah Will, I can do that," said Mike.

He dropped Holly off at Lucas's house. Max was there as well. His mother had left the keys for the car in case of an emergency with Holly, but Mike decided he would deal with his parents later.

The Mason house looked mostly empty when he pulled up. He knocked on the door and Julie answered. She had a slightly panicked look on her face. She had a bag and a suitcase as well as her cat in a carrier. Mike wordlessly helped her get those things to the station wagon.

"What's going on?" he asked her when they were on the road.

"Will didn't tell you?" she asked. Tears started rolling down her face. Mike shook his head. "You'll know soon enough. I don't feel like talking about it."

"Okay, no problem," said Mike. He felt cold all of the sudden. Will had said that El needed him, then asked him to pick up Julie. He remembered the New Years party. It couldn't be that, could it? Mike had to stop at a gas station and ask for directions when they got to Pawnee and the Byers-Hopper family had moved shortly after the holiday.

He pulled up to a house that was bigger and nicer than the Byers family had previously lived in. He grabbed Julie's suitcase, walked up to the front door with her and rang the doorbell. Will answered and wordlessly motioned for them to come inside.

When Will closed the door, Julie set down her bag and cat carrier and threw her arms around himl. He hugged her back and glanced over at Mike giving a slight jerk of his head to indicate El sitting on the sofa.

Mike went over to El as Will led Julie to his room. Sarah and Alice who were sitting with her got up and left the room.

"Mike!" said El tearfully. She stood up and hugged him. He returned the embrace.

"What happened?" asked Mike.

"It's Papa. He got us. I don't know how, but he got us... all of us," El sobbed.

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"Sorry about bringing my cat," said Julie. "It's just that, no one else in my family likes him."

"It's okay," said Will. "El and Sara both have kittens, one more isn't going to hurt." Charlotte went over to the cat carrier, sniffed and wagged her tail.

"Your mom won't mind me staying here?" asked Julie. Will shook his head. "It's just that...I had a really bad feeling about the people who were going to adopt the baby. Maybe I'm just going crazy." Julie sat on Will's bed and buried her face in her hands. Will sat next to her and awkwardly patted her back.

"You're not going crazy. Your instincts were right about them." Sarah and Alice both had visions of the couple in question. They had indeed been working for Brenner.

"What do you mean?"

"There's something I need to tell you...a few something's actually...about me."

"What about you, Will?"

"When I was missing a few years ago, Hopper didn't find me at a cabin in the woods. He found me somewhere else. And that body that was pulled from the quarry wasn't some other missing kid. It was a fake. Hawkins lab faked my death because they were after me, just like they were after El. They're still after us."

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A/N: Been stuck on this for a while, but I'm just going to skip ahead to the parts I can write in the next chapter. Ah well, stay healthy everyone. Been nice to grocery store workers and cover your mouths when you cough and sneeze, please/


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 The Connection

Mike walked over to Will's room after El fell asleep. He knocked on the door. No answer. Mike briefly felt that familiar sense of dread. He knew that Julie was sleeping in Sarah's room. Perhaps Will was sleeping too. It occurred to Mike that there was no light coming from under the door and no sound coming from the room. Mike pushed the door open and glanced around. Enough moonlight was coming in from the outside that Mike could clearly see that Will wasn't sleeping in his bed.

He fought the urge to call out Will's name, not wanting to wake the others or alert the neighbors. Mike took a few calming breaths and flipped on the light. He glanced around trying to think of what to do. He didn't imagine Will would like it very much if he freaked out. Mike noticed a notebook and trapper keeper on Will's desk. He'd seen the trapper keeper in Will's old room in Hawkins. It was marked "The Will Byers Files." It looked considerably thicker than the last time Mike had seen it-the night Will had been freed from the Mind Flayer and El had closed the gate.

Mike felt another wave of guilt as he thought about how little he'd even visited Will after El got back. He thought of Troy's taunts and wondered what else Will had gone through that he hadn't discussed with Mike and the others- or rather what he felt he couldn't discuss with them. Mike saw that the notebook was marked "dream journal."

Mike gave into the temptation of picking it up. He didn't want to just read Will's private thoughts without his permission, but he had to understand what was going on in Will's head. He flipped through the pages of the dream journal and it did appears to be details of Will's dreams. He got to a sections wit several drawings and questions jotted in the margin as though Will was trying to figure something out.

Mike picked up the trapper keeper. It was like a scrap book. There were newspaper clippings or notes from the other party members, Jonathan, Mrs. Byers, Hopper, Mr. Clarke and several other people. Mike came across a copy of "The Boy Who Came Back to Life" article. Someone had drawn Xs over Will's eyes and written "Zombie Boy" in marker. The clipping looked like it had been crumpled and flattened. The words "Private, Keep Out" were written on the page with the clipping, but Mike started to flip through the pages. Will had written that he was keeping the "files" to try to determine what was real and what was just in his head. Mike came to a post it note he'd written to Will shortly after El had closed the gate. '_Whenever you get that View-Master feeling, and you feel stuck between the slides...Remember, you're not alone. Crazy together-Mike."_

__Mike remembered the argument he had with Will as he recovered from the concussion. Will had told him that he had tried to talk to him about things. Mike remembered the pain on Will's face very clearly.

Mike flipped forward to a page marked July 1, 1985. He saw a lot of words, but the word "STUPID" was repeated several times. Mike remembered that night very clearly. He remembered Will riding his bike into the pouring rain. He remembered panicking with Lucas as the two of them were chasing after Will. Mike recalled their panic increasing as they found the Byers home empty. He remembered him and Lucas finding Will next to a destroyed Castle Byers-not knowing how it had been destroyed.

The pages where the word "**stupid**" was written excessively among several other words and sentences looked like they had been wet at some point as there were several smudges over works like arcade and D&D. Will must have written them when he was alone in his room after taking a shower. Mike remembered Will being in there for a really long time. He and Lucas had knocked several times on the door to ask Will if he was alright. Will had irritably answered that he was fine and just needed a little time. He must have been writing "_STUPID_" over and over again to vent and get it out of his system because he certainly hadn't been interested in hearing their apologies. Will seemed to have lost all interest in any sort of apologies from his friends from that day forward; either shrugging them off with obvious pain in his voice or outright losing his temper.

Mike slammed the trapper keeper shut as he suddenly realized that going through Will's personal things was breaking the trust that he was so desperately trying to get back. There were tears in his eyes. He decided to go downstairs to look for Will. When he did, he saw that the back porch light was on. Mike opened the back door and saw Will perched on the railing of the porch watching his dog running around the back yard. He was also smoking a cigarette.

"You smoke now?" Mike blurted out before he could stop himself.

Will glanced over at Mike stoically and shrugged. "This is my first cigarette," Will answered matter-of-factly. "I thought it might help me relax."

"You should find something else," said Mike. "I heard those things cause cancer. I'm pretty sure you've heard that too."

Will scoffed. "What does it matter?"

"It matters because you're going to have a kid that is going to need you," said Mike. "You've got a sister who needs you. And it matters to me because you're my best friend!" Mike reached to snatch the cigarette from Will, causing his friend to pull back, lose his balance and nearly fall off the railing. Mike managed to grab Will's arm and prevent the fall. He pulled Will safely on to the main part of the porch.

Will angrily pulled out of Mike's grasp, walked to the edge of the porch and took another puff of the cigarette then slowly exhaled a stream of smoke. Mike found a small comfort in the fact that as guarded Will had become with him, he never denied being Mike's best friend.

"Look, I'm not trying to tell you what to do, Will. But we're in this together now- whatever Brenner is planning-we're in it together. Could you please not start smoking?"

Will sighed. "I'm just going to finish this one and I'll stop."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise." Will took another puff off the cigarette and slowly exhaled before he started to cough. Mike reached over and started patting him on the back, but Will quickly stepped out of his reach. "I'm fine!"

"You're not fine, Will," said Mike. "You haven't been fine for a long time. You're still stuck between two slides."

"What would you know about that, Mike?"

"Because I saw the files, Will. I saw the files you keep to help yourself remember what's real."

"Did you see the words 'Keep Out' on them?"

"I did and I'm sorry that I kept reading, Will. I just had to know what's going on with you. I mean, you didn't even talk to me about Troy's bullying the last few months of eighth grade. Why didn't you tell me how bad it was getting?"

"Don't ask me why I wasn't talking to you about things, Mike. I already told you why. "

"Yeah. I wish I could go back in time and change things. I want things to be the way they were with us."

"Well I don't," said Will.

"Why not?"

"I told you why not at New Years: I was an unequal member of the party. It was just pathetic."

"I hate that we made you feel that way. I hate that I made you feel like you couldn't come to me anymore. I hate the fact that you can't stand doing the things that we loved as kids. Most of all, I hate the fact that I caused you to hate those things."

Will's expression softened. Mike saw some of the gentleness Will always had when he was younger. His expression hardened again and looked almost defiant as he looked past Mike. Mike heard the back door open behind him. He turned around to see Hopper and Mrs. Byers.

"What are you doing with that cigarette, kid?" asked Hopper.

"Trying to relax," said Will as he took another puff and glared at Hopper defiantly. This confused Mike as Will had always gotten along well with Hopper.

"You need to find another way to relax," said Hopper.

"I will if you will," said Will. He glanced at his mother who looked anxiously between Will and Hopper. "Both of you."

"It's different for us," said Hopper sternly. We're the adults."

"As adults, you should know better and set a better example," said Will. "I'm just an impressionable kid after all."

Mike started to feel a little nervous for Will. He'd seen what happened when someone became defiant of Hopper. He then noticed that Hopper actually looked a little nervous.

"Fine, we'll both stop."

"Good," said Will. He dropped the cigarette and crushed it with his foot.

"Now, you wanna tell us what Mike is doing here on a school night?"

Will stepped in front of Mike protectively. "El and I asked him to come."

"Why? What happened?" asked Joyce.

Will's defiantly stoic facade dropped. "He got to us when we went back to Hawkins at New Years. He got to all of us."

"Who did, Sweetie?" asked Joyce ask she walked over to Will and pulled him into a hug. "What do you mean?"

Will hugged his mother back. "Brenner. He got someone to drug us and Mike and El...I...now Julie's dragged into this whole thing too."

"Julie?" asked Hopper. "Anne and Dennis Mason's daughter?"

"Yeah," said Will.

"But why?" asked Hopper.

"I guess since he no longer had you as a prisoner, he decided to skip right to using El and I for that particular purpose," said Will.

"What purpose?" asked Joyce as she glanced between Will and Hopper.

"Are you telling me that El and Julie are both-" Hopper started to ask. Mike started to feel very nervous. Hopper was never thrilled about them making out and El being pregnant was a much bigger deal. Will disentangled himself from his mother and stood between Hopper and Mike again.

"Yeah, they are. Brenner got someone to drug us all at the New Years party. I guess he decided to do it while Sarah and Alice weren't around," said Will. "We have two more lives to protect."

"I'm not going to strangle Mike, kid," said Hopper to Will. Joyce's eyes widened as she realized what Will and Hopper were talking about.

"That son of a bitch! I'm going to strangle him!"

"Joyce, calm down," said Hopper as he glanced to one side of the back yard, then the other.

"Calm down?" asked Joyce incredulously. "HE VIOLATED MY CHILDREN, HOP! He's been violating them their whole lives and he keeps doing it!"

"I know that, Joyce. I know," said Hopper. "Let's talk about this inside, we don't need the neighbors hearing about this."

"Fine!" said Joyce. She gestured for Mike and Will to follow her inside. Mike tugged Will's sleeve.

"What's going on with you and Hopper, Will," he whispered.

"Never mind," said Will hastily. He didn't want Mike angry with Hopper anymore than he wanted Hopper angry with Mike. As angry as Will was with Hopper after he found out that Hopper had told Brenner where El was so they could save Will, he didn't hate him.

El, Julie, Sarah, and Alice were at the top of the when they went inside. El came down the stairs and hugged Joyce.

"Oh, my sweet girl," Joyce exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay," said El tearfully. Julie walked over to Will and took his hand. He gave hers a reassuring squeeze.

"Do your parents know you're here?" Hopper asked Julie. "Do they know that Will's the father?"

Julie shook her hear. "No."

"We need to call them and let them know you're okay."

"What? No! They wanted me to give up the baby and Sarah said that the couple works for that mad scientist guy. I told them I had a bad feeling, but they won't listen!"

"We'll keep you and the baby safe, Julie," said Hopper. "But we have to let your parents know where you are or things could get a lot worse for everyone."

"What if they try to force me to go back to Hawkins?" asked Julie.

"We won't let that happen," said Joyce as she held El.

"Brenner and his people are going to try all kinds of things," said Will. "Who knows what he'll do next? He's always trying to control us and everyone else..." Will's eyes widened. "El, Sarah, come with me. I need to show you something."

"Will, what-" Joyce began.

"I have something I need to figure out, Mom," said Will. "Give us a couple minutes."

Mike started to follow, but Will held up his hand. "Sorry, Mike, I need to talk to them alone." El and Sarah followed him to his room. Mike imagined that Max would have gotten a good laugh out of that moment. He did feel a sense of loss that he wasn't in on whatever secret they were discussing.

Will walked over to his desk and picked up his dream journal when he entered his bedroom with his twin sister and his step sister.

"Will, what is it?" asked El.

Will held up a finger then started flipping through his dream journal. He had made detailed sketches next to the descriptions of what El had seen in his mind. There were pictures of the demogorgan, the Mind Flayer and Papa. "When-when I saw your memories of Brenner hurting you and making you do things you didn't want to do... the feelings were exactly the same as when the Mind Flayer was making me do things I didn't want to do... how it hurt me when I resisted."

"Yes," said El tearfully. "I felt the same when I saw your memories about the Mind Flayer."

"And that first Demogorgan... It was fully grown. It had you powers...when it unlocked the door at the old house from the outside the night it took me. It was the exact same way you opened the latch the night you closed the gate. And it could make portals after it touched me. We both disappeared to the upside down when it touched me in the shed."

"What are you thinking, Will?" asked Sarah.

"The demogorgans were the Mind Flayer's army. The way it tries to force people to do things feels the same way as it does when Brenner tries to force people to do things. What is the Mind Flayer is an extension of him somehow? What if that's why he wants to open the gate again? You saw our memories, Sarah. What do you think?"

"Give me that dream journal," said Sarah. Will handed it too her. She sat on the floor, closed her eyes and concentrated. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. "You're right."

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A couple hours later, Mike listened as Will tossed and turned in his bed.

"Can't sleep?" asked Mike.

"Sorry," said Will. "I'll try to be more quiet."

Mike got up and flipped on the light. "It's alright, I can't sleep either."

Will looked up at Mike blankly for a moment before grabbing his sketch pad and starting to draw. Mike sighed and sat back on the cot. "You really aren't going to talk about it?"

"Talk about what, Mike? The fact that El and I are never safe? The fact that he's always trying to get us and he won't stop until he has us all under his control? The fact that El can find him and she's frozen with terror if she tries? The fact that she feels guilty about it even though it isn't her fault?"

"It's not your fault either, Will," said Mike.

"I feel like it is," said Will. "I feel like it's all my fault. If I had fought harder... If I'd been smarter that day... she would have never... we could have... it's because of me that she..never mind."

"Why on Earth do you feel like any of this is your fault, Will? It was Brenner, it was all Brenner."

"There are things that you don't know, and you'd hate me if you did know them." Will tossed his sketch pad to the side, stood up and headed to the door. Mike grabbed his arm.

"I could never hate you, Will. Ever!" Will pulled his arm free. "Will, wait, please!"

"I just need s few minutes alone," said Will. "Please don't follow me." Mike sighed and nodded.

Will thought about what Mike might do if he found out that Hopper had told Brenner where El was so he could go into the Upside Down to save Will. Hopper had told El the truth shortly after taking her to his cabin and she had forgiven him. Will himself couldn't forgive Hopper no matter how much El begged him to do so. Will couldn't forgive himself either, even though El had begged him to do that as well. El still blamed herself for Will's feelings of isolation from his friends and family, despite Will always telling her not to blame herself.

His mother was on the back porch biting her nails. At least she wasn't smoking. Will's little stunt from earlier that night seemed to have worked.

"Mom," said Will as he opened the back door. She turned around and gave him a small smile.

"Couldn't sleep, Baby?" Will shrugged.

"Just thinking about how Brenner is trying to reconnect with an extension of his own Mind in a dark dimension and he's after El and I. Now he's going to be after two innocent babies as well." 

"He's not going to get any of you," said Joyce as she walked over and gently cupped Will's face in her hands.

Will reached up and took her hands in his. "It was one thing when El and I just had to protect ourselves. We have other kids like us helping us. But there's this baby that I haven't even met yet and I don't want anything to happen to him or her. I can't relax or focus."

Joyce smiled sadly. "Now you understand how I feel all the time."

"I just want it to be over, Mom: once and for all."

"Me too," said Joyce. She wanted to assure her son that it would be over soon, but had a hard time believing it. Brenner and the people he was working with were ruthless and had spies everywhere. The fact that he had used her children in some sort of twisted breeding program made her feel less safe than ever.

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Mike sat with El in the kitchen as Julie argued with her parents in the living room. He had called his house and left a message that he'd gone to see El, but didn't say why yet. He dreaded telling his parents, but was glad that they weren't there at the same as time the Masons.

"I'm not going back with you," said Julie to her parents. If you try to force me, I'll just run away somewhere else!"

"Julie, we just don't want to you sacrifice your future," said Mrs. Mason.

"Will," Mr. Mason implored. "You had a reputation of being a model student when you lived in Hawkins. You've got a bright future. Surely you can see that this is for the best?"

El was silent and leaned her head on Mike's shoulder as they listened for Will's answer. It took a minute for him to finally speak.

"My own father constantly made it clear that I wasn't wanted. It felt horrible. I don't ever want any kid of mine to feel that way."

El started to cry and Mike pulled her closer.

"Oh, sweetie," Mike and El heard Mrs. Byers saying, Mike figured she was hugging Will. "I should have kicked your father out before you were born. I wanted to, but I wasn't strong enough.

"It wasn't your fault, Mom," said Will. "You're the strongest person I know. You always made me feel loved."

Mike knew that was true. Even though Mrs. Byers always had to work long hours when they were little, she knew what was going on with Will. Mike's own mother, who never had a job, knew very little about what was going on with him and Nancy. He wondered if his parents would even know he was gone if he hadn't taken the car.

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	10. Breaking Down Mind Barriers

Chapter 10 Breaking Down Mind Barriers

Mike double checked his suitcases and bags. He had rushed home after his final exam, barely giving the halls of Hawkins High School a possible final glance. His parents had made him finish out the school year. They weren't thrilled about him being a teenage father, but Mike couldn't bring himself to care what they thought. They barely knew him-that was how Mike was starting to feel at least.

Will and El had seemed to lose all interest in ever returning to Hawkins in recent months. The residents seemed to have less than charitable opinions of the Byers family once word got out that Will was the father of Julie's baby. Mike was beginning to feel the same way about the town that had always been his home- the town that he and his friends had always planned to leave.

A knock at his bedroom door shook Mike from his thoughts. Dustin, Lucas, and Max entered. "Were you going to skip town without saying goodbye?" asked Lucas. Mike shrugged.

"I'm not going that far away and you're visiting soon," said Mike and he crammed some more clothes into his duffel bag.

"Jesus, man," said Dustin. "You're acting more and more like Will every day."

"It's nothing against you," said Mike. "I just need to get the hell out of this town."

"Are you coming back?" asked Lucas.

"Probably not. I'd like to actually be there for my kid."

Lucas and Dustin exchanged an odd look. The fact that their two best friends were becoming fathers just felt so unreal- even after everything they'd seen. They had also all expected to eventually go their separate ways- but not until they all went off to college. The Upside Down and the people that wanted to use it for their own plans had caused the party to split much sooner than planned.

"Look, Mike... Just... just promise that you'll call us if something happens, if you need help," said Lucas. "Will and El haven't exactly been asking for help when they need it."

"They don't want you in danger," said Mike.

"We don't want to be in danger," said Dustin. "But we also don't want to sit here pretending like everything's hunky dory while they're in mortal peril. Like Lucas said, promise us you'll call if you need us."

Mike hesitated for a moment, slowly exhaled, then zipped up his bag. "Yeah, I promise."

"Want some help carrying your stuff to the car?" asked Max. "You can say goodbye to your parents."

"I'm not sure they have much to say to me," said Mike. "I mean, I've exposed the fact that the Wheeler family isn't perfect to all of Hawkins."

"Try, at least," said Max. "You'll regret it if you don't. I wish I had tried harder with my dad last time I visited him..."

"Fine," said Mike. He threw his back pack over his shoulder while Max, Lucas, and Dustin picked up his duffel bag and suitcases.

His father was sleeping in his chair. Mike walked over to Ted and tapped him on the shoulder as he cleared his throat. "Er- Dad? Dad, I'm headed to Pawnee."

"Drive safe," Ted Wheeler muttered. He still seemed to be sleeping. Mike rolled his eyes. While his father was far from a terrible person, he had always been completely oblivious to what was going on in the lives of Mike and his sisters.

"See you, Dad," said Mike. He wondered if Ted Wheeler was even aware of the fact that he had a grandchild. Mike walked to the kitchen, the smell of dinner drifted through the house.

Karen spared Mike a glance as he entered, then continued to focus on the meal she was prepping. "You aren't staying for dinner."

"I haven't seen El in two months," said Mike.

"And how long will it be before you see us again?" asked Karen as she continued to stare at her cooking. "You were always obsessed with that, that _girl!"_

Mike clenched his fists on his pockets. He blurted out the least hurtful thing that popped into his mind. "You won't even notice that I'm gone. You've barely noticed when I'm here anyway unless I was getting in trouble at school."

"And every time you've gotten in trouble, it's because of Will or El!" said Karen angrily.

"Don't do that, Mom," said Mike. "Don't you dare blame them. It wasn't their fault!"

"You know what, Michael? If you think they're so great, just stay with them. Don't bother coming back!"

"Fine!" said Mike. "I won't!" He turned and headed for the door. Holly came running toward him.

"Mike, don't go!" his little sister sobbed. Mike turned around and gave her a hug.

"I have to go, Holly, I have to."

"Why?" asked Holly. Mike wondered if he would have understood the same situation when he was seven.

"Someone needs me. I can't let them down. Don't worry, Nancy'll be here soon. Maybe she'll take you to visit us."

Mike wondered if his mother would allow that. He got actual hugs from his friends before leaving, making him question the phrase "blood is thicker than water."

`"Mike, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," said Karen as she ran out into the living room.

"Forget it," said Mike. "It doesn't matter." He let go of Holly, picked up his duffel bag and opened the front door.

"Michael, wait, please!" Karen begged. "At least take some cookies." Karen held out a tupperware container.

"Not hungry," said Mike.

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El sat quietly in her room. Her hand rested on her ever expanding abdomen. She already knew that she was having a girl and so was Julie. She hadn't told anyone else, even though they were all speculating. Her parents were home much earlier than normal. Will was in his room talking with Julie.

El felt slightly annoyed at that, but she was also annoyed with herself for feeling annoyed. Will was her brother- her twin and she had sometimes wanted him to herself. They had lost so much time, first being separated most of their childhood and then simply not knowing. Now that they knew, they had impending danger and other complications hanging over their heads.

There was also Sarah. El felt angry at herself for feeling even a small amount of resentment toward Sarah. She had been an only child to Hopper for so long. Even if their relationship had been dysfunctional, it had been loving. She had lost Hopper and when she finally got him back, he had another daughter competing for his affection.

She had also felt jealous that she had to compete with Sarah for Jonathan and Will's brotherly affection... Was she-El- a jealous person? She remembered knocking Max from her skateboard when she saw her talking to Mike nearly three years earlier. El wanted to punch herself for that. Max had since become her best friend and Mike had been calling out to El every night since her disappearance.

El furiously wiped tears from her face. There was a soft knock at her door and she looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway looking concerned.

"Hey," said El tearfully. Joyce wordlessly walked over to El and pulled her into a tight hug.

"What's wrong?" asked Joyce.

"Just having thoughts," said El.

"What thoughts?"

"Nothing, just stupid thoughts," said El. Joyce pulled back and gently cupped El's face. She gazed thoughtfully.

"Hang on a minute," said Joyce. She kissed El's forehead, stood up and left the room. El sniffed and wiped her eyes.

Joyce walked over to Will's room. The door was slightly open. Will and Julie were sitting on Will's bed and appeared to be working on drawings. Joyce lightly knocked and they both looked up.

"Is everything alright, Mom?" asked Will.

"Everything's fine, baby. Your sister seems a little upset about something. I think she might open up to you more than she will to me. Can you talk to her?"

"Yeah, sure," said Will. He glanced at Julie, set down his sketch pad and got up. Joyce gently squeezed his shoulder as he walked past her.

"You must be thirsty, Julie. Let's go to the kitchen and get you something to drink." Joyce walked over and helped Julie to her feet.

"I am a little thirsty. How'd you know?" asked Julie as they headed down the hallway then down the stairs.

"I was constantly thirsty both times I was pregnant," said Joyce. "Especially when it was hot out."

"Thanks," said Julie. "You've been really nice since I got here. That's made all this stuff... well easier. Not everyone would have been so nice."

"This world is filled with nasty people," said Joyce. The best any of us can do is try to make the world a little less nasty. What were you and Will working on?"

"A story for the baby," said Julie.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Writing and drawing are both relaxing."

Joyce smiled fondly. Every day both Will and Jonathan did things that showed they were nothing like Lonnie.

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"El?" said Will. She looked up. He saw the tears in her eyes, walked over and pulled her into a hug. "What's wrong?"

El didn't know how to explain to Will that she was feeling jealous. She ended up talking about something else. "I-I want you and Mike to be friends again."

"What? Mike and I never stopped being friends," said Will.

"You aren't going crazy together anymore," said El. Will tensed up.

"I just don't utterly rely on Mike like I used to," said Will. "And I won't go back to doing that. I can't, El, I just can't."

"I understand," said El. "I used to do that too, but different. You don't have to utterly rely on him... just try to have fun again. Try to have happy times with Mike. Try for me, please?"

"Alright," said Will.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

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Mike seemed a little distracted when he arrived at the Byers home that evening. He sat quietly with El, Will and Julie in the living room for a few minutes after arriving.

"Are you okay, Mike?" asked El.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Mike. "Why?"

"You just seem.. upset."

"I'm fine. It's just been a little stressful today. Last day of school stuff, don't worry about it."

"Mike-" El started. Mike decided to cut her off in case she was about to say 'friends don't lie.'

"Hey, is there a good place for me to set up my Nintendo?"

"You brought your Nintendo?" asked Will.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't going to leave it with my parents."

"The TV in my room is probably best," said Will. An older neighbor of the Byers family had passed away and their relatives had given the Byers-Hopper family a couple extra TVs that they all kept in their bedrooms, but barely watched. Will didn't particularly want a Nintendo in his room, but he didn't think Hopper would care much to have it in the living room.

"Do-do you think you could help me set it up, Will? Maybe we could play a few games. You'd love Legend of Zelda or Dragon Quest."

"I don't play video games anymore," said Will stoically.

"Will," said El in a barely audible voice. Mike glanced at her to see her giving her brother a pleading look. Will met her eyes and nodded.

"But I can help you set it up, c'mon." Will stood up and gestured for Mike to follow. "Do either of you need anything?" he asked Julie and El. They both shook their heads. Mike saw Will and El share one last meaningful look before the two boys headed up stair

Will worked quickly as he hooked up the cables for the Nintendo to the TV and turned it to channel 3 to test it out.

"Are you sure you've never had a Nintendo?" asked Mike. Will nodded. "You really figured that out quickly."

"We were in A.V. club for three years," said Will. "And putting the ends of the cables into the ports where they fit isn't that hard to figure out."

Mike started to chuckle, then awkwardly stopped himself when Will didn't join in. "Are you sure you don't want to try it?"

"I'm sure," said Will.

"I did bring my D&D set. Maybe we could teach the girls how to play."

Will shrugged. Mike let his irritation get the better of him.

"What? are you suddenly too cool to play these games now that you have a girlfriend," Mike blurted. Will let out a small scoff. Mike instantly regretted his words. "Will, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

"Forget about it, it doesn't matter," said Will. His hands started to tremble and he balled them up into fists.

"Will, are you okay?" asked Mike as he stepped toward Will and reached for him. Will stepped away from him and Mike halted his efforts.

"I'm fine," said Will.

"I've seen that look enough times to know you're not fine," said Mike. Will gave him a look that wasn't quite a glare before a wave of resigned sadness washed over his face.

"Why is it so important for me to play these games, Mike?"

"They just used to make you really happy."

"They did. They just don't anymore."

"Okay," said Mike. "I won't keep pushing, but can I ask you something?"

"You can ask."

"When we were having that New Years campaign, you got really quiet before you cast firestorm. What were you thinking about? Just answer me that."

Will looked at though he was carefully considering what to say. He took a few more steps back and leaned against the wall. "I'll answer. I do want to be clear that this isn't some new era of me confiding everything with you. I just want you to understand why I don't want to play the games we liked as kids anymore."

"Okay."

Will took a deep breath as he thought about the promise he'd made to El that afternoon.

"The way Dustin and Lucas were shouting at me to make a move, was the exact same way they were shouting at me the night I got trapped in the Upside Down."

"I had no idea," said Mike.

"Why would you?"

"I should have."

"No, you're not my damn keeper!"

"Will-" Mike began. Will held up his hand.

"It's been like that every time I've tried to play D&D or a video game ever since the night I destroyed Castle Byers. For just a brief moment that night I wished that..."

"What?"

"Nothing, never mind." Will couldn't tell Mike that for the briefest of moments that night in Castle Byers, he had wished that it had taken his mother and Hopper a little longer to find him in the Upside Down...or maybe that Mike hadn't figured out that closing the gate would kill Will if they didn't get the Mind Flayer out of him. Will couldn't tell Mike or anyone that he occasionally had those thoughts for the briefest of moments. He couldn't let himself be vulnerable to Mike again. If he did, he would likely become dependent like he once had been... and what if Mike abandoned him again?

"C'mon, Will," said Mike.

"Just drop it, Mike. Please?" Will began to occupy himself with organizing the Nintendo box. If he didn't get those thoughts out of his head, he'd break down. He couldn't let that happen, not in front of Mike or anyone.

"Alright, I'll drop it," said Mike. He decided to try one more thing. He needed to talk to someone about it, why not Will? "It's just that I had a huge fight with my mom before I left Hawkins."

Will's expression softened. Mike took that as a good sign. "Oh, is that why you haven't called her back yet?" Mrs. Wheeler had called and asked to have Mike call her earlier that afternoon.

"Yeah. She's been pretty pissed that I ruined the perfect Wheeler family image by getting El pregnant and we got into a huge fight. She actually told me to never come back."

"What?"

"She apologized and tried to give me cookies for the road, but I didn't want to hear it." Mike took a deep breath and sat in the closest chair. Will sat in another chair and looked at Mike attentively. That was a good sign. On his drive from Hawkins, Mike had started to realize that the way he was feeling toward his mother was the same way that Will had been feeling toward him.

Perhaps, Mike was more like his mother than he wanted to admit. He knew that if he outright told Will that he understood how he was feeling, his friend wouldn't believe him. He had to tell him another way. "When you were missing, Mom was always telling me that I could talk to her. I didn't really believe her. As soon as things went back to normal, she went on with her life. She thought that our D&D campaigns were stupid. I could see it when she'd roll her eyes. She got easily frustrated with me when I was trying to find El. I'm pretty sure your mom knew what was happening in my life more than my own mom did.

"When she tried to apologize to me, I just didn't want to hear it. I mean, what happens when I accept her apology? She feels better about herself and goes back to not caring about what's going on in my life? She only seems to care when I'm visibly upset, but gets annoyed when it starts interrupting her long phone calls or visits to the pool. I just don't want to do that anymore."

"That sucks," said Will.

"It's nothing like what you went through with your dad."

"I don't actually give a crap about my dad, though. You still care about your mom, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"That's why it hurts."

"Do you really not care about your dad?"

There was a knock at Will's bedroom door, they both looked up to see Hopper standing there. "Dinner's almost ready. Can you help your Mom set the table, Will? I need to have a quick talk with Mike."

Will nodded. He headed down stairs and Hopper gave him a quick pat on the shoulder as he passed. Mike didn't know what to expect, but he felt uneasy as Hopper closed the door.

"Relax, Mike, you're not in trouble."

"Then what's going on?"

"I've just decided to tell you the reason why Will was so angry at me in March before he and El stress themselves out trying to keep that secret."

"Stress themselves out?"

"Yes. You see the night Joyce and I went to save Will, I made a deal with Brenner so we could get access to the Upside Down."

"Deal? Do you mean you told them..."

"I told him where El was, yes."

There was a time when Mike would have had a violent reaction to that news. "Has El known about that very long?"

"I told her a few days after we moved into the cabin."

"They thought I'd be angry with you, didn't they?"

"Are you?"

"I would have been a couple years ago, but if El isn't angry there's no reason for me to be."

"That went better than expected," said Hopper. Mike remembered the conversation he'd had with Will in March. Will was angry at himself for something... He thought Mike would hate him if he knew something.

"Will blames himself, doesn't he?"

"I think so," said Hopper. "El blames herself for some of the things that have happened to Will. The thing is, they don't blame each other at all, but can't stop blamin' themselves."

Despite the fact that Will hadn't been in much of a mood to share his feelings, Mike knew he had to talk to him about this latest revelation. He thought about what could have happened if Hopper hadn't made that deal. No, he couldn't hate Will.

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"We need to talk to all of you about something," said Joyce toward the end of dinner.

"What is it, Mom?" asked Will.

"Your future," said Hopper.

"What about it?" asked Will.

"College," said Hopper. "You're going."

"How are we going to manage that when we have little children to raise?" asked Will.

"Because we've decided to take care of them for you," said Joyce.

"We can't ask you to do that, Mrs. Byers," said Julie.

"You don't have to ask, we're offering," said Joyce.

"That isn't fair to you, Mom," said Will. "You've already raised kids."

"I didn't get to spend as much time with you as I wanted because of work," said Joyce. "And I missed most of El's childhood. This is a new opportunity."

"Your mom has a good mind, but she didn't get a chance to finish college because her parents got sick," said Hopper. "Seems like you two have inherited her good mind. Will managed to survive in an alternate dimension for a week and El survived in the woods a little over a month. Idiots couldn't do that. Not to mention, you've managed to keep your grades up despite everything that's been going on. So you're going to college and getting the opportunity to provide a better life for your kids.

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"Pretty cool of your mom and Hopper to watch the babies when we go to college," said Mike that night as he and Will were about to go to sleep. Will was sitting on his bed with his dog Charlotte at his feet and he was writing notes in his trapper keeper while Mike read a book as he sat on the other bed.

"Yeah," said Will. "I want to go to college, but I'd feel a little weird just leaving my kid like that."

"Are you saying you might not go?" asked Mike.

"I don't know. I can't really focus on that until we stop Brenner and the Upside Down," said Will.

"Speaking of the Upside Down," said Mike. "Hopper told me about that deal he made to save you." Will froze. "I don't hate you, Will. I never could. I don't like the fact that El almost died, but that was because of all the people from Hawkins lab and the Demogorgan, not you. If Hopper hadn't made that deal... Anyway, I know the truth now. You don't have to worry about trying to keep that secret anymore/"

"Okay," said Will in a barely audible voice. He was silent for a minute. "Mind if I turn out the light?" Mike shook his head. Will reached over and turned off the lamp on his night stand. He then buried his face in his pillow and cried silently.

He suddenly had a vision of Brenner standing in a dark room. He smiled menacingly at Will and morphed into the Mind Flayer. Everything got very cold. Will knew he had to escape. Will flung his arm to the side and a portal appeared. It led to a sunny desert area. The Mind Flayer advanced on Will and he held out his hand to the sunlight and directed it at the entity. It writhed in pain as Will jumped through the portal.

He woke up in his own bed and turned on the light.

"Will, are you okay?" asked Mike. He noticed that Will's eyes were red from crying before he fell asleep.

"Yeah, fine," said Will. He began to furiously write in his trapper keeper. He knew that what he had just seen was in his mind, but real, and he knew that Brenner wasn't going to try to get into his mind again after that.

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Brenner climbed out of the sensory deprivation tank. The boy had more potential than he had realized, which was good. But Will Byers now had the ability to resist attempts to enter his mind altogether and that made things more complicated.


End file.
